Mummies of thousand-year-old bees found on the coast of Odemira

Hundreds of mummified bees inside their cocoons have been discovered on Portugal’s southwest coast, in a new paleontological area on the Odemira Coast announced this Wednesday by the Naturtejo Geopark.

The discovery, published in the international scientific journal Papers in Paleontology, states that this method of fossilization is extremely rare and normally the skeleton of these insects quickly decomposes, as it has a chitinous composition, which is an organic compound.

“The degree of preservation of these bees is so exceptional that we were able to identify not only the anatomical details that define the type of bee, but also their sex and even the supply of monofloral pollen left by the mother when she was building a cocoon.” , notes the grandson of Carlos Carvalho, a paleontologist from the Naturtecho Geopark.

This responsible person is the coordinator of the project, which is the result of an Ibero-Italian collaboration, in which researchers from IDL – University of Lisbon, from DISTAV – University of Genoa, from MARE – University of Coimbra, from the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar took part. , from the Portuguese Center for Geohistory and Prehistory, from the Center for Research in Theoretical Physics. Abdus Salam at the Universities of Siena, Venice and Seville.

Carlos Neto de Carvalho says the project has identified four paleontological sites with a high density of bee cocoon fossils, reaching thousands per one meter square.

These sites were found between Vila Nova de Milfontes and Odeseix, on the coast of Odemira (Beja region).

“With a fossil record of nests and hives attributed to the bee family dating back 100 million years, the truth is that the fossil of their user is virtually non-existent,” the note says.

These cocoons, produced almost 3,000 years ago, keep, like a sarcophagus, young Eucera bees that have never seen daylight, according to the Naturtecho Geopark.

It is one of about 700 species of bees that still exist on the Portuguese mainland.

Understanding the environmental causes that led to the death and mummification of bee populations nearly 3,000 years ago “could help understand and develop climate resilience strategies.”

“A sharp drop in night temperatures at the end of winter or prolonged flooding of the area already outside the rainy season could lead to death from cold or suffocation and mummification of hundreds of these small bees,” says Carlos Neto de Carvalho.

The Naturtejo Meseta Meridional Geopark, which is part of the UNESCO World Network, includes the municipalities of Castelo Branco, Idanha a Nova, Oleiros, Penamacor, Proenza a Nova and Vila Velha de Rodao (in the Castelo Branco area). ) and Nisa (Portalegre).