WHEN DID BEES FIRST APPEARED ON OUR PLANET?

Have you ever wondered, when bees first appeared on our planet, how they evolved and became modern honey bees?

Well, in this episode of the Wilds Web, you’re going to find out when bees evolved from predatory wasps and became social creatures.

So, let's solve your queries!

THE STORY OF BEES

Now, this is the main question. So let’s begin with the timeline of evolution.

It dates back about 130 million years, when the earth had quite a different shape. Dinosaurs were the emperors of the earth at that time.

a specimen found representing the prehistoric bees

There were no bees, but their ancestors, wasps used to wander and buzzing there. They were small and parasitic in nature, it meant they fed on large animal living bodies.

THEY STARTED TO CHANGE THEIR DIET AND SHAPE

But, it would (may) be due to the shortage of food, some species began to change their diet. slowly, from time to time stuck on their new diet, nectar.

they started collecting sweet nectar from flowers, due to the change in diet, as natural selection started its work, their body size and structure also affected and changed.

They evolved hair and pollen baskets on their bodies to help them make another newly evolved gift, honey.

And, as time went on, they continued to evolve. They survived the two mass extinctions, and eventually, became the creature we know as bees today.

So, this was a brief story of bees in 200 words. But let's talk about some more.

THE FIRST BEES

the first bees to appear on the planet were thought to be leafcutter bees, the solitary bees with which often make holes in your gardening plants

A 100 million years old bee was found preserved in the amber of a tree, bees of that time as I said, prey on insects but later changed their diet.

BEES HAVE BECOME SOCIAL NOW

From then, the adaptation never stopped; and now they have divided into more than 20,000 today. They are called one of the most successful creatures on earth.

They also have become social and have evolved teamwork, which is the biggest secret of their successful survival. You can estimate the power of socialism that honey bees even survive the whole winter while other insects including wasps die. 

WE HAVE ALSO POPULATED BEES

We humans also played a role in populating bees and have been taking care of them. We have been using bees to acquire honey for thousands of years.

From this activity, we boosted the population of bees. And still, today there are farms, breeding millions of bees.

Beside this, we’ve also made new species of bees by crossing different bees. An example is “killer bee” which is made by breeding European bees with African bees.

But, these bees are very aggressive and can kill a human by attacking with the whole swarm.

WASPS HAVEN’T CHANGED YET

Although many wasps have become bees through the magic of evolution, not all have changed, they are still alive and more successful than bees!

Yes, buddies, they have now 30,000 species where bees have 20,000. Plus, they are smarter than bees. 

CONCLUSION

So, buddies, I hope you’ve enjoyed the article learning about bee evolution in which i taught you how bees survived the two major mass extinctions and how wasps transformed into bees millions of years ago.

Plus, I've told you the secret to their success, teamwork. 

If you liked this article and enjoyed it, there are plenty of articles on insects, wasps and other mind blowing animals written just for you.

If there is something you don’t like, feel free to ask me in the comments. Why are you staring at my face (ops, article) here, go read about dinosaurs by clicking this link. You’ll probably enjoy it.