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Adaptations for insect‐trapping in brood‐site pollinated C olocasia ( A raceae)
Author(s) -
Bröderbauer D.,
Ulrich S.,
Weber A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plant biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.871
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1438-8677
pISSN - 1435-8603
DOI - 10.1111/plb.12081
Subject(s) - biology , bract , pollination , botany , pollinator , inflorescence , insect , genus , pollen , attraction , zoology , linguistics , philosophy
The A raceae include both taxa with rewarding and deceptive trap pollination systems. Here we report on a genus in which rewarding and imprisonment of the pollinators co‐occur. We studied the pollination of four species of C olocasia in S outhwest China and investigated the morpho‐anatomical adaptations of the spathe related to the attraction and capture of pollinators. All four species were pollinated by drosophilid flies of the genus C olocasiomyia . The flies are temporally arrested within the inflorescence and departure is only possible after pollen release. Trapping of the flies is accomplished by the closure of the spathe during anthesis. Moreover, in two species the spathe is covered with papillate epidermal cells known to form slippery surfaces in deceptive traps of A raceae. However, in C olocasia the papillae proved not slippery for the flies. The morpho‐anatomical properties of the spathe epidermis indicate that it is an elaborate osmophore and serves for the emission of odours only. Despite its similarity to deceptive traps of other aroids, C olocasia and C olocasiomyia have a close symbiotic relationship, as the attracted flies use the inflorescence as a site for mating and breeding. The trap mechanism has presumably evolved independently in C olocasia and is supposed to facilitate more efficient pollen export.