<span style="color: #222222;">Scientists have discovered a beetle trapped in amber that dates back to 99 million years, a finding that may help better understand the relationship between ancient flowering plants and pollinators. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">According to a study published in the journal Current Biology, an ancient boganiid beetle preserved in Burmese amber has been found along with grains of cycad pollen. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The study uncovers the earliest definitive fossil evidence of the relationship between cycads and insects. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Cycads, a group of unusual evergreen gymnosperms, may have been the first insect-pollinated plants.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The beetle also shows special adaptations, including mandibular patches, for the transport of cycad pollen.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">A research fellow at the University of Bristol in the UK, Chenyang Cai said, Boganiid beetles have been ancient pollinators for cycads since the Age of Cycads and Dinosaurs. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Cai said, the find indicates a probable ancient origin of beetle pollination of cycads at least in the Early Jurassic, long before angiosperm dominance and the radiation of flowering-plant pollinators, such as bees, later in the Cretaceous. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The researchers also conducted an extensive phylogenetic analysis to explore the beetle's family tree.</span><br />''