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In this episode of Pollination, host Dr. Andony Melathopoulos talks with Dr. Elizabeth Murray ( Mt. James Entomological Collection, Washington State University) about pollen wasps (Masarinae) and how they represent a rare, parallel shift to bees from carnivory to provisioning young with pollen. The conversation covers pollen wasp origins around 125 million years ago alongside bees, likely in arid Western Gondwana as angiosperms rose, their global but dry-region-biased distribution, low species diversity (<350) versus bees, and their specialized host-plant use. They compare life histories, pollen transport (internal ingestion in pollen wasps), nesting (mud and ground nests), Pacific Northwest plant hosts like Penstemon and Phacelia, and current research priorities including phylogeny, distributions, and conservation links to threatened plants.
00:00 Gondwana Origins Teaser
00:58 Podcast Intro And Guest
02:22 Inside The Entomology Collection
03:49 Why Collections Matter
05:27 Growing The Collection
06:52 What Are Pollen Wasps
09:04 Angiosperms And Shared Origins
11:00 Reverting Back To Carnivory
12:40 Where They Live And Diversity
15:49 Life History Compared To Bees
18:07 How They Carry And Pollinate
19:21 Nests And Plant Hosts
23:31 Research And Conservation Questions
