A fifty-million-year-old fossil weaver ant queen from northern Washington. Today they inhabit Southeast Asia, tropical Africa, and northern Australia, but in ancient times they thrived in the cooler uplands of British Columbia and Washington.
Ants, bees, and wasps–how they changed the world in The Age of Flowers
Today, flowering plants dominate terrestrial ecosystems from maple trees to grasses to tulips and so much more. To say that we live in The Age of Flowers might be better than the traditional view that that we live in The Age of Mammals. How did insects respond to the diversification of flowering plants? Curator of the Beaty fossil collection paleontologist Dr. Bruce Archibald talks about the big picture of one very important group in particular, the ants, bees, and wasps, and how they diversified in the The Age of Flowers to become the important drivers of terrestrial ecosystems that they are today.
About the Speaker
Paleontologist Dr. Bruce Archibald is the Curator of the Fossil Collection at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, and he holds a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University. Dr. Archibald has worked on fossil insects for about two decades and has published 63 papers in scientific journals. He particularly enjoys speaking to school and community groups to spread scientific knowledge.
Program Schedule:
5:00 pm: Doors open with ADMISSION BY DONATION
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Presentation and Q&A session
7:00 pm – 7:30 pm: Half-Hour Highlight – Museum Tour
8:30 pm: Museum closed