Water lilies and scarabs: faithful partners for 100 million years?

Night-flowering water lilies (Nymphaeaceae) in South America are pollinated by Cyclocephala scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae: Cyclocephalini) in a specialized relationship involving synchronized flowering movements, strong floral scent, food tissues, and heat-producing flowers. We report that a similar and closely related association exists in West Africa between Nymphaea lotus L. and Ruteloryctes morio Fabricius (Cyclocephalini). This finding strongly supports a late Early Cretaceous origin of a symbiosis between the night-flowering water lilies and pollinating Cyclocephalini beetles. We believe that this is the first unambiguous evidence of a plant-pollinator relationship of this age.