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A photographic account of pollen digestion by adult hoverflies
Author(s) -
HASLETT JOHN R.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
physiological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-3032
pISSN - 0307-6962
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3032.1983.tb00345.x
Subject(s) - pollen , biology , digestion (alchemy) , nectar , botany , sugar , pollen tube , food science , pollination , chemistry , chromatography
. The method of pollen digestion by adults of the hoverfly Cheilosia albitarsis Mg. (Diptera: Syrphidae) was investigated by observing pollen grains at different stages in their progression along the gut. No form of mechanical ‘grinding’ to break up the grains was observed, as suggested by some previous authors. Instead, there was an exudation of the pollen grain contents through one of the pores in the pollen exine. This exudation may start as a growing pollen tube. The exact conditions which cause the pollen grains to give up their contents in this way are unknown, but it is suggested that nectar sugar within the gut may provide the necessary stimulus.