Overview
- A peer-reviewed study published December 16, 2025 in Royal Society Open Science documents bee brood cells preserved within tooth sockets and vertebrae.
- The trace fossils, named Osnidum almontei, include compacted-mud chambers with smooth linings and occasional ancient pollen grains.
- Imaging shows repeated reuse of the same cavities, with up to six stacked chambers inside a single hutia tooth socket.
- The material comes from Cueva de Mono on Hispaniola, where barn owl activity concentrated thousands of Late Quaternary fossils, including hutias and sloths.
- No bee bodies were preserved, leaving the maker unassigned, and researchers plan further fieldwork to search for living analogues and additional examples.