Pollination of the long-spurred African terrestrial orchid Bonatea steudneri by long-tongued hawkmoths, notably Xanthopan morganii

The pollination of Habenaria rhodocheila (Orchidaceae) in South China: When butterflies take sides

“…Meanwhile, the hypothesis of a coevolutionary race between floral depth (including spur length) and the proboscis length of pollinators was first proposed by Darwin (1859). The importance of this key, floral trait was confirmed 135 years later (Alexandersson & Johnson, 2002; Balducci et al., 2019; Martins & Johnson, 2007; Nilsson, 1988; Wasserthal, 1997). However, the function of a spur matching a proboscis cannot be understood without the investigation of other signals and/or effective pollen transfer traits targeting pollinium attachment to the pollinator and receptive stigma lobes (Johnson et al., 2020; Pedron et al., 2012; Tao et al., 2018).…”

“…The Order Lepidoptera shows one of the largest insect radiations with approximately 160,000 species, and butterflies represent 12% of species diversity in Lepidoptera (Kawahara et al., 2018, 2019; Mitter et al., 2017). Some orchid genera including Bonatea (Balducci, Martins, et al., 2019; Balducci et al., 2019) and Habenaria (Pedron et al., 2012) show functional traits compatible with Lepidoptera pollination. In these genera, most species have evolved a suite of floral traits that attract nocturnal moths, while a few species in the same lineage show suites adapted to diurnal butterflies.…”

Linalool: A ubiquitous floral volatile mediating the communication between plants and insects

“…Researchers have demonstrated that linalool is a common attractant of moth-pollinated flowers such as Crinum variabile, Bonatea steudneri, and Hoya pottsii (Table 2). The release of linalool in these species shows a clear rhythm of rising at night, which indicates that linalool is an important attractant for noctuid (Knudsen et al, 1993;Miyake et al, 1998;Manning & Snijman, 2002;Balducci et al, 2019;Landrein et al, 2021;Fig. 1G).…”

“…F , ( S )‐(+)‐linalool has the function of mate attracting pheromone, which can effectively attract the drone of Colletes cunicularius (Borg‐Karlson et al, 2003; Parachnowitsch et al, 2013). G , Most of the flowers that release linalool are pollinated by hawk moths (Balducci et al, 2019; Landrein et al, 2021). H , ( S )‐(+)‐linalool has the strongest contact toxicity to rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (Fouad et al, 2021).…”

The volatile chemistry of orchid pollination

“…80,120 6-Methyl-5-hepten-2-one (sulcatone, 54) has also been found in many orchid species. 57,59,66,[120][121][122][123][124][125] It is EAD-active to the pollinators of Gymnadenia conopsea and Orchis mascula, 73,74 but appears not to have been tested in eld bioassays.…”