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

们的近亲是裸子植，这是一个在地球上先于们的群体。

Baker said angiosperms are more successful at reproducing than gymnosperms.

贝克说，被子植比裸子植在繁殖方面更成功。

Gymnosperms and angiosperms both have seeds.

裸子植和被子植都有种子。

Gymnosperms usually depend upon the wind for pollination.

裸子植通常依靠风。

They spread into many ecological niches and replaced the gymnosperms.

们扩散到许多生态位并 取代了裸子植。

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

但裸子植并没有 被们的传者完全抛弃。

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

那么，为什么这只蝴蝶的人会 在 1.65 亿年前造访裸子植呢？

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

一些现代裸子植的甜花滴 仍然吸引的苍蝇和飞蛾。

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

采集的花来自裸子植——包括松树、苏铁和银杏在内的植群。

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

但是，在陆地植的大部分历史中， 裸子植占主导地位。

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

口器上带有花的草蛉化石表明，古代昆虫群体和裸子植之间的是如何开始的。

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

裸子植不产生花蜜，但们确实产生有营养的滴，用于捕获空气中的花。

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

早期裸子植的这些特殊结构并不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.

对花的分析表明， 主要来自裸子植的混合，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.

当被子植站稳脚跟并吸引甲虫等交叉传者时，一些传者仍然忠于裸子植。

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

蝎子蝇和草蛉一样，这些真正的苍蝇在裸子植而非被子植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都是针叶树——们的生殖结构通常看起来球果，靠风而不是昆虫。

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

但是裸子植并没有被们的传者完全抛弃。

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者——这些是对裸子植旧滴的新诠释。

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的关系转向被子植提供的新资源的昆虫。