In this episode of Pollination, host Dr. Andony Melathopoulos talks with Dr. Elizabeth Murray ( Mt. James Entomological Collection, Washington State University) about pollen wasps (Masarinae) and how they represent a rare, parallel shift to bees from carnivory to provisioning young with pollen. The conversation covers pollen wasp origins around 125 million years ago alongside bees, likely in arid Western Gondwana as angiosperms rose, their global but dry-region-biased distribution, low species diversity (<350) versus bees, and their specialized host-plant use. They compare life histories, pollen transport (internal ingestion in pollen wasps), nesting (mud and ground nests), Pacific Northwest plant hosts like Penstemon and Phacelia, and current research priorities including phylogeny, distributions, and conservation links to threatened plants.

00:00 Gondwana Origins Teaser

00:58 Podcast Intro And Guest

02:22 Inside The Entomology Collection

03:49 Why Collections Matter

05:27 Growing The Collection

06:52 What Are Pollen Wasps

09:04 Angiosperms And Shared Origins

11:00 Reverting Back To Carnivory

12:40 Where They Live And Diversity

15:49 Life History Compared To Bees

18:07 How They Carry And Pollinate

19:21 Nests And Plant Hosts

23:31 Research And Conservation Questions