Related: A Wasp, Flower, And Fly Trapped in Amber Reveal 30-Million-Year Old Microcosm<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Over the years, the jawbone’s teeth loosened and scattered, as it was slowly buried beneath a fine clay silt.<\/p>\n There, in the holes left behind, called dental alveoli<\/a>, a newly-described species of burrowing bee, Osnidum almontei, set up a multi-generational home.<\/p>\n We only know this because the unusually smooth surface inside one of these alveoli stood out<\/a> to paleontologist Lazaro Vi\u00f1ola Lopez, who was digging up bones as part of his work at the Florida Museum of Natural History.<\/p>\n “Micro-computed tomography scans<\/a> of the host bones show multi-generational use of the same cavity, suggesting repeated use and some degree of nest fidelity,” Vi\u00f1ola Lopez and his colleagues explain<\/a> in their published paper.<\/p>\n “Fidelity in the nesting behaviour of bees is linked to the consistency or specificity with which a bee species or individual selects and uses particular nesting sites or materials.”<\/p>\n Once the researchers knew what to look for, they found many such examples of the bees’ nesting cells within bones throughout the sediment, even one within the jawbone of a sloth.<\/p>\n These may be only trace fossils (ichnofossils<\/a>) of O. almontei, but they tell a fascinating story of the bees’ behavior.<\/p>\n “The cells of Osnidum almontei appear highly opportunistic, filling all bony chambers available in the sediment deposit,” the team writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Similarly, the high abundance of nests throughout the deposit indicated that this cave was used for a long period as a nesting aggregation area by this solitary bee.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rsos.251748.f003-642x735.jpg\")
CT scan and photograph images of left dentary of Plagiodontia araeum and type specimen of the ichnofossil, Osnidum almontei. (Vi\u00f1ola Lopez et al., R. Soc. Open Sci., 2025)<\/p>\n![\"Subscribe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Generic-Health-Promo-Final-642x273.jpg\")
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