ArticleAnnals of botany2024
Sexual attraction with pollination during feeding behaviour: implications for transitions between specialized strategies.
Article in Annals of botany, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Herbarium Specimens Reveal Long-Term Decline in Pollination Services Since the 1970s.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Sexually deceptive orchids with distinct flower morphologies elicit different behaviours from a shared pollinator.Annals of botany · 2026Article
- Plants, Pollinators and Pheromones: Promises and Lies of Semiochemicals.Plant, cell & environment · 2025Review
- Pollination by sexual deception via pro-pheromone mimicry?The New phytologist · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsUnderstanding the origin of pollination by sexual deception has proven challenging, as sexually deceptive flowers are often highly modified, making it hard to resolve how any intermediate forms between sexual deception and an ancestral strategy might have functioned. Here, we report the discovery in Caladenia (Orchidaceae) of sexual attraction with pollination during feeding behaviour, which may offer important clues for understanding shifts in pollination strategy.
methodsFor Caladenia robinsonii, we observed the behaviour of its male wasp pollinator, Phymatothynnus aff. nitidus (Thynnidae), determined the site of release of the sexual attractant, and experimentally evaluated if the position of the attractant influences rates of attempted copulation and feeding behaviour. We applied GC-MS to test for surface sugar on the labellum. To establish if this pollination strategy is widespread in Caladenia, we conducted similar observations and experiments for four other Caladenia species. KEY
resultsIn C. robinsonii, long-range sexual attraction of the pollinator is via semiochemicals emitted from the glandular sepal tips. Of the wasps landing on the flower, 57 % attempted copulation with the sepal tips, while 27 % attempted to feed from the base of the labellum, the behaviour associated with pollen transfer. A similar proportion of wasps exhibited feeding behaviour when the site of odour release was manipulated. A comparable pollination strategy occurs in another phylogenetically distinct clade of Caladenia.
conclusionsWe document a previously overlooked type of sexual deception for orchids involving long-distance sexual attraction, but with pollination occurring during feeding behaviour at the labellum. We show this type of sexual deception operates in other Caladenia species and predict that it is widespread across the genus. Our findings may offer clues about how an intermediate transitional strategy from a food-rewarding or food-deceptive ancestor operated during the evolution of sexual deception.
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