manzanita Some Fabaceae Senna Examples of buzz pollinating bee species Bombus terrestris Xylocopa frontalis Euglossa sp. Melipona sp. Protandrena sp. Nomia sp. Oxea sp. Evolutionary origins The earliest evidence of ancestors of plants that use this mode of pollination in the fossil record has been dated to the Cretaceous period. Also, some extant flora such as members of the family Myrtaceae show a spectrum of anther shapes including poricidal anthers and are thought to resemble some morphological aspects of ancestral buzz pollinated flowers. As these plants have evolved complex floral structures, pollinators have coevolved with these plants. Although pollination results from the bees visiting these flowers, this is not the primary reason they visit plants with poricidal anthers. Pollen contains a substantial amount of protein compared to nectar, the sugary liquid the majority of plants produce as a reward for their animal pollinators. Bees eat pollen as well as make a paste with it to feed their larvae. The pollen paste is then sealed into the nest to create a reserve for the young bees. Bees rely on this resource for food; therefore they are also dependent on flowers that produce substantial amounts of accessible pollen, including flowers with poricidal anthers. Bees from Bombus and Xylocopa are thought to pollinate these flowers because their adaptive behavior allows them to easily extract pollen that is less available to other insects. Since bees have a source of plentiful pollen that they do not have to compete with other insects for, they are more likely to visit these flowers. This then allows the flowers to be more successful reproductively because the plants maximize their pollen dispersal with each bee visit, and less pollen is lost. The relationship between buzz pollinated plants and bees benefits both groups and could be why poricidal anthers have been successful evolutionarily. Pollinator and flower relationships have been observed in Orphium frutescens, a small shrub that has poricidal anthers. Bees visited these plants outside of the University of Cape Town and continued to visit the plants even when all of the pollen had been extracted. Although the bees did not know the O. frutescens would benefit from these multiple visits as the plants continue to produce pollen during the flowering season. Economic impacts Scientists can now import pollinators, such as bumblebees, where there might be a shortage of pollinators. In New Zealand, the red clover plant population was restored