Their closest relatives are the gymnosperms, a group that came before them on Earth.

它们的近亲是裸子植物，这是一个在地球上先于它们的群体。

Baker said angiosperms are more successful at reproducing than gymnosperms.

贝克说，被子植物比裸子植物在繁殖方面更成功。

Gymnosperms and angiosperms both have seeds.

裸子植物和被子植物都有种子。

Gymnosperms usually depend upon the wind for pollination.

裸子植物通常依靠风授粉。

They spread into many ecological niches and replaced the gymnosperms.

它们扩散到许多生态位并 取代了裸子植物。

But the gymnosperms haven’t been totally abandoned by their pollinators.

但裸子植物并没有 被它们的传粉者完全抛弃。

So, why was this butterfly-lookalike visiting a gymnosperm 165 million years ago?

那么，为什么这只长得像蝴蝶的人会 在 1.65 亿年前造访裸子植物呢？

The sweet pollen drops of some modern gymnosperms still attract pollinating flies and moths.

一些现代裸子植物的甜花粉滴 仍然吸引授粉的苍蝇和飞蛾。

The pollen it picked up was from a gymnosperm – the group that includes pines, cycads, and ginkgoes.

它采集的花粉来自裸子植物——包括松树、苏铁和银杏在内的植物群。

But, for most of the history of land plants, gymnosperms were dominant.

但是，在陆地植物的大部分历史中， 裸子植物占主导地位。

The lacewing fossilized with pollen on its mouthparts shows how pollination began between ancient groups of insects and gymnosperm plants.

口器上带有花粉的草蛉化石表明，古代昆虫群体和裸子植物之间的授粉是如何开始的。

Gymnosperms don't make nectar, but they do make nutritious pollination drops that are used for trapping airborne pollen.

裸子植物不产生花蜜，但它们确实产生有营养的授粉滴，用于捕获空气中的花粉。

These specialized structures of early gymnosperms weren't big cones like you'd see on a pine tree today.

早期裸子植物的这些特殊结构并不像你今天在松树上看到的那样大。

Analysis of the pollen showed that it was mostly from a mix of gymnosperm plants, including cycads and ginkgos.

对花粉的分析表明， 它主要来自裸子植物的混合物，包括苏铁和银杏。

As the angiosperms got their foothold and attracted crossover pollinators like beetles, some pollinators still remained loyal to the gymnosperms.

当被子植物站稳脚跟并吸引甲虫等交叉传粉者时，一些传粉者仍然忠于裸子植物。

Like the scorpionflies and lacewings, these true flies were thriving on the reproductive structures of gymnosperms, not angiosperms.

像蝎子蝇和草蛉一样，这些真正的苍蝇在裸子植物而非被子植物的生殖结构上繁衍生息。

Which is weird, because today most gymnosperms are conifers - plants whose reproductive structures often look like cones and are pollinated by wind, not by insects.

这很奇怪， 因为今天大多数裸子植物都是针叶树——它们的生殖结构通常看起来像球果，靠风而不是昆虫授粉。

But the gymnosperms haven't been totally abandoned by their pollinators.

但是裸子植物并没有被它们的传粉者完全抛弃。

Like, organs called nectaries evolved, which delivered tasty nectar rewards to pollinators - these were a new take on the old pollination drops of gymnosperms.

比如， 进化出蜜腺器官，将美味的花蜜奖励给传粉者——这些是对裸子植物旧授粉滴的新诠释。

So, beetles may have been the insects that were best able to shift from their relationships with gymnosperms to the new resources offered up by angiosperms.

因此，甲虫可能是最能从与裸子植物的关系转向被子植物提供的新资源的昆虫。