How Old Is the Flower and the Fly?

Abstract
Pollination--insects and plants benefiting each other--is one of nature9s more widespread examples of mutual adaptation. How did it evolve? In his commentary, Labandeira discusses research reported in the same issue by Ren on elongated mouthparts and other pollination-adapted features of Late Jurassic brachyceran flies. This new work adds substantially to our understanding of the lineages of these insects and also the evolution of angiosperms, the most common form of seed plant.