The betrayed thief – the extraordinary strategy of Aristolochia rotunda to deceive its pollinators – ScienceOpen
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      The betrayed thief – the extraordinary strategy of Aristolochia rotunda to deceive its pollinators

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          Abstract

          • Pollination of several angiosperms is based on deceit. In such systems, the flowers advertise a reward that ultimately is not provided. We report on a previously unknown pollination/mimicry system discovered in deceptive Aristolochia rotunda (Aristolochiaceae).

          • Pollinators were collected in the natural habitat and identified. Flower scent and the volatiles of insects (models) potentially mimicked were analyzed by chemical analytical techniques. Electrophysiological and behavioral tests on the pollinators identified the components that mediate the plant–pollinator interaction and revealed the model of the mimicry system.

          • The main pollinators of A. rotunda were female Chloropidae. They are food thieves that feed on secretions of true bugs (Miridae) while these are eaten by arthropod predators. Freshly killed mirids and Aristolochia flowers released the same scent components that chloropids use to find their food sources. Aristolochia exploits these components to deceive their chloropid pollinators.

          • Aristolochia and other trap flowers were believed to lure saprophilous flies and mimic brood sites of pollinators. We demonstrate for A. rotunda, and hypothesize for other deceptive angiosperms, the evolution of a different, kleptomyiophilous pollination strategy. It involves scent mimicry and the exploitation of kleptoparasitic flies as pollinators. Our findings suggest a reconsideration of plants assumed to show sapromyiophilous pollination.

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          Most cited references87

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          Identification of essential oil components by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

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            Mimicry and Deception in Pollination

            A Dafni (1984)
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              Chemical Ecology of the Heteroptera

              Jr Aldrich (1988)
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                New Phytol
                New Phytol
                nph
                The New Phytologist
                BlackWell Publishing Ltd (Oxford, UK )
                0028-646X
                1469-8137
                April 2015
                08 December 2014
                : 206
                : 1
                : 342-351
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Institut für Botanik, Technische Universität Dresden Zellescher Weg 20b, 01062, Dresden, Germany
                [2 ]Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden & Museum für Tierkunde Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, 01109, Dresden, Germany
                [3 ]Fakultät Biologie, Universität Bielefeld Postfach 100 131, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany
                [4 ]Lehrstuhl für Pflanzensystematik, Universität Bayreuth Universitätsstraße 30, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany
                Author notes
                Authors for correspondence: Stefan Dötterl, Tel: +43 662 8044 5527, Email: stefan.doetterl@ 123456sbg.ac.at
                Birgit Oelschlägel, Tel: +49 351 463 34070, Email: birgit.oelschlaegel@ 123456tu-dresden.de
                [5]

                Current address: Organismische Biologie, Universität Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria

                Article
                10.1111/nph.13210
                4357391
                25488155
                dd3d35d7-2975-4f71-aa61-49d57065890c
                © 2014 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

                This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 21 August 2014
                : 06 November 2014
                Categories
                Research

                Plant science & Botany
                aristolochia,chemical mimicry,chloropidae,croatia,deception,kleptoparasites,pollination system

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