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Beetles with Orchid Pollinaria in Dominican and Mexican Amber

G. Poinar

Published 2016 in American Entomologist

ABSTRACT

Orchids are extraordinary plants that have evolved the strategy of dispersing their pollen in little sacs called pollinia. Pollinia are normally attached by supports (caudicles) to adhesive pads (viscidia) that stick to various body parts of the pollinator. The entire pollination unit is called a pollinarium. Since pollen dispensed in pollinia is not available as food to most insects (van der Cingel 1995), orchids supply nectar or have evolved ingenious patterns of mimicry and deceit to attract potential pollinators (Endress 1994). Beetle associations with orchids are diverse. Beetles may visit orchid flowers simply for nectar, or at the same time acquire pollinaria and serve as pollinators. Beetles can also feed and raise their brood on orchid floral and vegetative parts. Some orchids depend on various Coleoptera for pollination and have produced “cantharophilous” flowers especially attractive to beetles (Endress 1994, Kalshoven and van der Laan 1981). The present study provides the first fossil evidence of beetles serving as pollinators of orchids. The two examples consist of a cryptorhynchine weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Dominican amber with an orchid pollinaria attached to its thorax and a ptilodactyline beetle (Coleoptera: Ptilodactylidae) in Mexican amber with a pollinarium adhering to its mouthparts. These pollinaria are described below and associations between beetles and orchids are reviewed. The Dominican amber specimen was obtained from mines located in the Cordillera Septentrional of the Dominican Republic. These mines are in the Altimira facies of the El Mamey formation, which is shale-sandstone interspersed with a conglomerate of well-rounded pebbles (Eberle et al. 1980). Ages range from 20–15 Ma (Iturralde-Vinent …

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2016

  • Venue

    American Entomologist

  • Publication date

    2016-09-01

  • Fields of study

    Biology, Environmental Science

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.1093/AE/TMW055
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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