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SELECTION TOWARD SHORTER FLOWERS BY BUTTERFLIES WHOSE PROBOSCES ARE SHORTER THAN FLORAL TUBES
Author(s) -
Bloch Daniel,
Erhardt Andreas
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/06-2023.1
Subject(s) - pollinator , proboscis , biology , butterfly , carnation , petal , pollination , dianthus , ecology , botany , pollen
Darwin's meticulous observations on the function of floral shape led to his famous prediction of a long‐tongued pollinator, which he believed to be the evolutionary trigger for the long‐spurred flowers of the Madagascar star orchid. Although tubular flowers are common, long tubes or spurs are an exception, suggesting that selection maintaining short flowers is widespread. Using the butterfly‐pollinated carnation Dianthus carthusianorum and two butterfly species differing in proboscis length ( Melanargia galathea and Inachis io ) as model organisms, we experimentally demonstrate a reduction in pollinator efficiency with an increasing difference between proboscis length and floral tube length. Such a relationship is a prerequisite for the evolution of floral shape in response to pollinator morphology.