i don't know, but i think horse shoe crabs are old, and unchanged over eons... since water based animals tend to be older than land, and creepy, crawly things older than flying things, i thing the cockroach might also be a contender for older.

still bees are pretty old, and found in amber, even dinosaurs liked honey...
and words for bees and honey are old too, going back to IE (well not english's word, honey but most languages..)
a word that always has a Mand vowel, and sometimes a D or a L-- Mead (honey wine) come from the same root, but so does Melissa, and Mele (czech as recall for honey, but spanish is closer to Mead-- what is it connie? mede? and Melittis (as in diabedes-- that was done not too long ago.. you could look it up)


my other obsession