Effective pollinia transfer by settling moths' legs in an orchid Habenaria aitchisonii
Effective pollinia transfer by settling moths' legs in an orchid Habenaria aitchisonii
复制标题
通过将飞蛾腿固定在兰花 Habenaria aitchisonii 中进行有效的花粉转移
DOI：
10.1111/jse.12485
复制
发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Huang Shuang-Quan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Xiong Ying-Ze;Jia Li-Bing;Liu Chang-Qiu;Huang Shuang-Quan
兰花的花形态多种多样，长期以来一直被认为是由不同的传粉者选择的。HabenariaWilld。 （兰科）物种的一般特征是长花蜜刺，并由长舌昆虫（鳞翅目）授粉，刺和传粉昆虫长鼻之间的机械配合被认为是由“军备竞赛”相互选择引起的。在这里，我们报道了 Habenaria aitchisoniiRchb. 的花。 f.具有花蜜刺（约 9 毫米）的花粉由三种定居夜蛾授粉，这些夜蛾的喙长度从 10 毫米到 16 毫米不等。当一只定居的飞蛾爬在穗上并探查花朵寻找花蜜时，花粉块就会被放置在飞蛾的腿上，而不是身体的其他部位。我们对花粉运动的 5 年调查和 3 年补充授粉实验表明，这种兰花的果实和种子生产在花水平上通常不受花粉限制。在香格里拉自然种群中，蛾腿去除花粉和沉积在柱头上的比例分别为93.8%和83.5%。这一发现通过传粉者的腿进行有效的花粉转移。 aitchisonii 增加了兰科传粉媒介（此处为定居蛾）上不同花粉分布的新例子。
A great diversity of flower morphology in orchids has long been thought to be selected by diverse pollinators.HabenariaWilld. (Orchidaceae) species are generally characterized by long nectar spurs and pollinated by long‐tongued insects (Lepidoptera), the mechanical fit between the spur and pollinator proboscis length being supposedly caused by “arms race” reciprocal selection. Here, we report that flowers ofHabenaria aitchisoniiRchb. f. with nectar spurs (approximately 9 mm) were pollinated by three species of settling noctuid moths whose proboscises varied in length from 10 to 16 mm. When a settling moth crawled on the spikes and probed the flowers for nectar, pollinia were placed on the moths’ legs rather than on other body parts. Our 5‐year survey of pollinia movement and 3‐year supplemental pollination experiments indicated that fruit and seed production in this orchid were not often pollen‐limited at flower level. In a natural population in Shangri‐La, Southwest China, the proportions of pollinia removal and deposition on stigmas by moth legs were 93.8% and 83.5%, respectively. This finding of efficient pollen transfer by the pollinators’ legs inH. aitchisoniiadds a new example of diverse pollinia placement on pollinators (here settling moths) in the Orchidaceae.