Abstract
AbstractOrchids are truly extraordinary organisms exhibiting a wide range of pollination mechanism, many of which awaits discovery. Epipactis veratrifolia is a terrestrial orchid that has been reported to be pollinated by various species of hoverflies in Israel1,2. This orchid is known to emit the smell of aphid pheromone that attracts hoverflies, which lay eggs inside the flower and in the process pollinate them. Recently, we observed a species of hoverfly (Ischiodon scutellaris) pollinate the same orchid species in the Western Himalaya while laying eggs inside the flowers. Ischiodon scutellaris is being reported for the first time as pollinator of this orchid. However, all flowers don’t get pollinated, even though insects visit them and lay eggs inside. In this communication we reveal the fate of those orchid flowers which are visited by the flies but are left unpollinated.
Highlights
It’s a kind of deception in which flowers emit smell similar to the alarm pheromone released by several aphid species to which female hoverflies get attracted and lay eggs inside the flower
We studied pollination mechanism in Epipactis veratrifolia in Indian Western Himalaya during 2009 – 2011 and found that one species of hoverfly, Ischiodon scutellaris was the most frequent visitor to these flowers
During the study we found that in as many as 20 of the 100 flowers studied, the insects were unable to dislodge the pollinia from their original position and many flowers could not be pollinated
Summary
We studied pollination mechanism in Epipactis veratrifolia in Indian Western Himalaya during 2009 – 2011 and found that one species of hoverfly, Ischiodon scutellaris was the most frequent visitor to these flowers. Orchidaceae is the largest family of Angiosperms exhibiting a wide range of distribution as well as pollination mechanisms[3] with the most common mechanism being entomophily. One of the insect pollinated ground orchids, is widely distributed from Europe to Asia[4]. Ivri and Dafni reported that, this species lacks spontaneous autogamy though the flowers are completely self-compatible[1].
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