Category: Uncategorized

NO IMPACT ON SPECIATION. "There is little current evidence that sexual deception drives any species-level selection on pollinators." One opinion. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2010.00134.x/full View in LinkedIn

PHENOMENAL FAMILY. "Orchids are the most diverse family of angiosperms, with over 25 000 species, more than mammals, birds and reptiles combined. Orchids form the largest family of flowering plants...they comprise roughly 8% of all vascular plant species and grow in a wide range of habitats worldwide.” https://lnkd.in/d2u86tE View in LinkedIn

THE AVERAGE JOHN. "The typical pollinator of a sexually deceptive orchid is a male insect of a species that is polygynous, monandrous, haplodiploid, and solitary rather than social. Insect behaviours involved in the pollination of sexually deceptive orchids include pre-copulatory gripping of flowers, brief entrapment, mating, and very rarely, ejaculation." https://lnkd.in/dp7q3mK View in LinkedIn

INSECT POLLINATORS. "I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, that crossing played an important part in keeping specific forms constant." (Charles Darwin, 1862). https://lnkd.in/dSQjj95 View in LinkedIn

SEXUAL RESPONSE. "Among the oddities of pollination, various forms of sexual deception are perhaps the most unusual. The flowers of some species produce sex pheromone-like odors that attract particular species of male insects. The interaction is often species specific, at least locally. In the case of Orchid galileae, its halictid bee pollinators seem to be attracted by deceptive floral fragrances, but copulatory behavior during pollinating visits does not occur." https://lnkd.in/db9X2SK View in LinkedIn

"CHARLES DARWIN was the first to recognize that orchids offer superb cases for illuminating evolutionary processes, devoting an entire volume to the Various Contrivances by Which Orchids Are Fertilized by Insects." (1877). https://lnkd.in/dt8CgYk View in LinkedIn

ORCHID FUNGUS MIMESIS. "The floral parts of these flowers simulate fungi and emit mushroom-like odors. Fungus gnats are misled by a suite of cues so that they lay their eggs in the flower and pollinate it in the process. The flowers are inedible so the larvae eventually starve to death." https://lnkd.in/db9X2SK View in LinkedIn

ENGROSSED. "I was never more interested in any subject in my life than this of orchids." (Charles Darwin). https://lnkd.in/dQ3aG5K View in LinkedIn

OVER-SIMPLIFIED. "However, the plant-pollinator relationship is somewhat more complex because brood-site deception is not the only means of pollinator attraction. The flowers also produce nectar which is consumed by male and female flies, both of which pollinate the orchid." https://lnkd.in/db9X2SK View in LinkedIn

BROOD SITE SELECTION. "Several unrelated orchid genera have flowers that mimic larval food substrates that attract gravid insects. For example, the protuberances on the labellum of Epipactis consimilis are thought to mimic aphids which stimulate egg-laying behavior of aphidophagous syrphid flies." https://lnkd.in/db9X2SK View in LinkedIn