Bumble bees pollinated linden flowers 24 million years ago, fossil evidence shows

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An international research team led by the Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research at the University of Vienna has made an extraordinary discovery: fossilized lime blossoms and fossilized bumble bees were found in 24-million-year-old sediments at the Enspel Fossil-Lagerstätte (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)—along with evidence of their interaction in the form of preserved pollen grains. These findings show that bumble bees were already among the most important pollinators of linden (or lime/basswood) trees millions of years ago—just as they are today.