# Pollination of Creteaceous plants October 07, 2015 - [ News ](/news-categories/news) Ricardo is part of an international team which discovered fly specimens in El Soplao cave (Cantabria, Spain). Study of these specimens found pollination in an extinct group of flies preserved in Spanish amber for more than a hundred million years. [http://www.ub.edu/web/ub/en/menu\_eines/noticies/2015/07/020.html](http://www.ub.edu/web/ub/en/menu_eines/noticies/2015/07/020.html) Read more about the find and its significance in: Peñalver E, Arillo A, Pérez-de la Fuente R, Riccio ML, Delclòs X, Barrón E, Grimaldi DA. [Long-Proboscid Flies as Pollinators of Cretaceous Gymnosperms](/publications/long-proboscid-flies-pollinators-cretaceous-gymnosperms). Current Biology \[Internet\]. 2015;25 (14) :1917–1923. #### Highlights (from *Current Biology*) - A highly rare, direct evidence of insect pollination is reported in Cretaceous amber - Extinct zhangsolvids were a widespread and highly specialized group of flies - One specimen has a clump of gymnosperm pollen grains attached to its body - Detailed anatomy of zhangsolvid mouthparts reveals feeding on nectar-like secretions Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)