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Pollinators of Hoya pottsii: Are the strongest the most effective?

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 274; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.flora.2020.151734

1618-0585

Sven Landrein, Ziyu Zhou, Shijie Song,

Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior

Hoya floral characters are highly elaborate and associated with a complex and specialised pollination mechanism. The pollination of two Hoya species has been studied previously, but little is known about the specific nature and interactions between flower morphology, pollinators, and their environment. Here we investigate the pollination of Hoya pottsii, where pollinaria are transferred onto several insects’ legs and arolia including moths in the Erebidae family, ants, and a praying mantis. Hypopyra vespertilio (Erebidae, Erebinae) was the most effective at both carrying and depositing the pollinaria, Colobopsis leonardii (Formicidae) was shown to successfully insert only one pollinium whereas Hymenopus coronatus (Hymenopodidae) could only attach the pollinaria between its two euplantulae. Several Hoya species were used to compare the effectiveness of pollinaria removal and insertion, pollinator size which was correlated to strength, floral scent, and morphology of the guide rail. The floral scent was dominated by Linalool, Methyl benzoate and Benzaldehyde which are known to attract moth, other species displayed similar scents but also showed many different compounds. The effectiveness of a medium-sized moth in pollinating H. pottsii could be explained by the morphology of the guide rail which comprises a landing platform for the arolium. In Hoya carnosa the guide rail lacks a landing platform which could explain why stronger and larger moths were more effective in this species. The importance of the interaction between insect arolia and guide rails in the pollination of Hoya is illustrated and we suggest that their morphology corresponds with pollinator strength and how smoothly and precisely the pollinia can be inserted.