The passage illustrates the doubts that skepticals hold against the idea that the nest found in
Arizona was built by bees, including a lack of bee fossils, non-existence of flower and difference
of details in the nest chamber. However, the professor claims that the nest was possibly built
by bees by addressing that these pieces of evidence on which the doubts were built are not
convincing.
To begin with, the text introduces that there was no actual bee fossils that could be dated
back to 200 million years ago. Admitting this fact, the speaker refutes that it was not
because there was no bees at that time. It was because bees are not preserved 200 millions ago.
Insects, such as bees, are usually preserved by sticky tree resins. Considering that the
right kind of tree that produce resin was rare 200 million ago and common later, the lack of
fossilized bees could not lead to the conclusion that there was no bees at that time.
Apart from that, the text demonstrates that there was no flowering plaint 200 million years
ago. Admitting this piece of fact, the professor points out that though bees feed on flowers
today, they could also exist when there was no flower. They could possibly rely on
non-flowering plants, such as pine trees. The new intimacy relationship between flowering
plant and bees could have been developed in the duration of evolution history and became stable
ever since.
Finally, the reading material doubts that there is a difference in the detail of the nest
chambers, a lack of caps, indicating it was not built by bees. Accepting that fact as true,
the lecturer points out that there is a piece of chemical evidence supporting that the
builders are the bees. Bees use special water proof materials to protect their nest against
water. By analyzing the material of the nest, researchers finds out that the water proof
material that used in the ancient chamber shares the same chemical composition with modern
bee hives, implying that it could possibly be accomplished by bees.