quote:
Originally posted by Delshad:
Read the following carefully and with an open mind.
There are some creatures that defy all logic behind some well known theories.
Heres some examples: A bee found fossilized in a tree 120 million years ago is just like any normal type of bee found today.
The long time needed to adjust some unecessary functions is there.
Then how come that a bee still dies after it has stung an enemy, shouldnt a minor adjustment had taken place during that long time thus enabling it to reproduce more frequently.
You're a bit off. The oldest known true "bee" is
Trigona prisca from about 95 million years ago. It was stingless. You're approximately right in that
T. prisca closely resembles other
Trigona spp. However, there are a huge number of lineages that have branched out of the Apoidae lineage that includes
T. prisca. There are even a lot of bees living today that are stingless (c.f. the Meliponinae suborder).
Only a relative handful of Apoidae species die when they sting. Why has this unfortunate "suicidal" tendancy persisted? John provided the main explanation - there is no selective pressure to eliminate it because all of the bees with stingers are non-reproductive females. They are basically dead-end clones of each other. Any mutation or variation within a given worker simply dies out when she does. Nothing for natural selection to operate on. In addition, the bees DON'T die when they sting their primary enemy: other bees and insect predators.
As to your "suicidal fish", without more info than you have provided, I'm afraid I can't comment. Please provide at least the common name of the species you're talking about. Andya mentioned one. There are others (a lot of the Gobiidae can live for shorter or longer periods out of water, for instance).
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