scholarly journals Evidence for a food-deceptive pollination system using Hylaeus bees in Caladenia hildae (Orchidaceae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 146
Author(s):  
Ryan D. Phillips ◽  
Michael Batley

Numerous orchid species are pollinated by food deception, where rewardless flowers attract foraging pollinators through the mimicry of other flowers or the use of non-specific floral signals. Here we investigate the pollination of Caladenia hildae, a member of a diverse Australian genus containing species pollinated by sexual deception, and species pollinated by food foraging pollinators. Despite eight bee species occurring at the main study site, only food foraging bees of a single species of Hylaeus (Colletidae) were observed to remove and deposit pollen of C. hildae. Spectral reflectance of C. hildae flowers differed from co-flowering rewarding species in terms of both the wavelengths of light reflected, and the pattern of colouration. As such, there was no evidence that C. hildae uses a pollination strategy based on floral mimicry. However, the attraction of only a single bee species at this site suggests that C. hildae may use a deceptive strategy that exploits sensory biases or behaviours that differ between Hylaeus sp. and the remainder of the bee community. While Hylaeus have been recorded visiting orchid flowers in several parts of the world, C. hildae may represent the first documented case of an orchid species specialised on pollination by Hylaeus bees.

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (7) ◽  
pp. 490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noushka Reiter ◽  
Björn Bohman ◽  
Marc Freestone ◽  
Graham R. Brown ◽  
Ryan D. Phillips

Prior to undertaking conservation translocations of plants with specialised pollination systems, it is important to ensure the presence of pollinators at recipient sites. Here, for two threatened species, Caladenia concolor Fitzg. and Caladenia arenaria Fitzg. (Orchidaceae), we determine (i) the pollination strategy used, (ii) which floral visitors are involved in pollination, and (iii) whether the pollinator species are present at potential translocation sites. For both orchid species, pollination was primarily achieved by nectar-foraging thynnine wasps, with a single species responsible for pollination in C. concolor, whereas C. arenaria utilised at least two species to achieve pollination. Both orchid species secreted meagre quantities of sucrose on the upper surface of the labellum. Visits to C. concolor occurred primarily in the late afternoon, with some wasps perching on the flowers overnight. Surveys revealed that pollinators were present at all extant populations and most potential translocation sites for both orchids. The specialisation on one pollinator species in C. concolor means that the distribution of the pollinator needs to be considered for conservation translocations. With C. arenaria, the risk of hybridisation with other Caladenia that are known to share one of its pollinator species needs to be taken into account when selecting translocation sites.


Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 514
Author(s):  
Zonglei Liang ◽  
Christopher H. Dietrich ◽  
Wu Dai

Xestocephalus Van Duzee is among the most common and widespread genera of Cicadellidae in the temperate and tropical regions of the world. In the present study, 205 specimens of the genus Xestocephalus were collected in Thailand, whereas only a single species of the genus was recorded previously using Malaise trap field sampling, studied by comparative morphology. Seventeen species were recognized, including twelve new species: X. binarius sp. nov., X. chrysanthemum sp. nov., X. cowboyocreus sp. nov., X. densprint sp. nov., X. dimiprocessus sp. nov., X. exproiecturus sp. nov., X. gracilus sp. nov., X. limpidissimus sp. nov., X. malleus sp. nov., X. nonattribus sp. nov., X. recipinams sp. nov., and X. tenusis Liang sp. nov. Four species were recorded in Thailand for the first time: Xestocephalus abyssinicus Heller and Linnavuori, Xestocephalus asper Linnavuori, Xestocephalus ishidae Matsumura, and Xestocephalus toroensis Matsumura. Detailed morphological descriptions of all 17 species are given; photographs of external habitus and male genitalia of the species from Thailand are provided. A checklist of species of the genus is also given, and a key to all Thailand Xestocephalus species is also provided.


2020 ◽  
pp. 8-11
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Saunders

This chapter describes the arrival of the Great Arab Revolt Project (GARP) archaeologists at the derelict Hejaz Railway—GARP’s main study area—which snakes across the deserts and wadis of southern Jordan, from the medieval town of Ma’an to the Bedouin settlement of Mudawwara near the border with Saudi Arabia. There was an enchantment of the senses in finding traces of the world’s first global industrialized conflict alongside those of deep prehistory, churned together it seems by the advent of modern guerrilla warfare, where time is built into the relationship between metal and rust. The sand itself has been touched, blown, and sifted by history, from Nabatean spice traders to Hajj pilgrims, from Ottoman Turkish troops to the Bedouin. Each of these experienced the desert in their own way, and like others in distant parts of the world, brought their own magical thinking to bear on their surroundings. Indeed, the empty desert is anything but, and the ruins of the Arab Revolt emerge from it as a unique heritage of the modern world.


1825 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 203-246 ◽  

The following observations contain the principal points of a laborious examination of the anatomical structure of the gryllotalpa, or mole-cricket; and if I dare hope that that examination has been conducted with any thing like adequate accuracy, I need not apologize for the length of the details with which the account of it is accompanied, since Cuvier has affirmed of an entire volume written by Lyonnet on the anatomy of a single species of caterpillar, that it contains not one word that is useless. Natural science indeed has now arrived at that point, in which individual detail is requisite for the acquisition not only of a surer basis of classification of species, but also of more correct principles of general physiology. Independently however of these considerations, the insect, which is the subject of the present communication, is so singular in its structure and habits, and is in some parts of the world so formidable to the agriculturist, as to render its history pecu­liarly interesting.


eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fidelis T Masao ◽  
Elgidius B Ichumbaki ◽  
Marco Cherin ◽  
Angelo Barili ◽  
Giovanni Boschian ◽  
...  

Laetoli is a well-known palaeontological locality in northern Tanzania whose outstanding record includes the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. Here, we report hominin tracks unearthed in the new Site S at Laetoli and referred to two bipedal individuals (S1 and S2) moving on the same palaeosurface and in the same direction as the three hominins documented at Site G. The stature estimates for S1 greatly exceed those previously reconstructed for Au. afarensis from both skeletal material and footprint data. In combination with a comparative reappraisal of the Site G footprints, the evidence collected here embodies very important additions to the Pliocene record of hominin behaviour and morphology. Our results are consistent with considerable body size variation and, probably, degree of sexual dimorphism within a single species of bipedal hominins as early as 3.66 million years ago.


Fossil Record ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-140
Author(s):  
David J. Cicimurri ◽  
Jun A. Ebersole ◽  
George Martin

Abstract. Mennerotodus Zhelezko, 1994, is an extinct lamniform shark known to occur in Paleogene strata of the Tethyan region of Asia and Europe. Although only a single species has been named, multiple subspecies have been erected and used as biostratigraphic tools in Asia. The genus has not been reported with confidence outside of the Tethyan region, but we have identified two new species of Mennerotodus from Paleogene deposits of the southeastern United States. Mennerotodus mackayi sp. nov. is described by teeth occurring in the lower Paleocene (Danian Stage) Pine Barren Member of the Clayton Formation of southern Alabama. A middle Eocene (Bartonian) species, Mennerotodus parmleyi sp. nov., is based on material occurring in the Clinchfield Formation in central Georgia. The early Paleocene record could indicate a North American origin for Mennerotodus relatively soon after the K–Pg event, with subsequent radiation to other parts of the world. The genus is likely more widely distributed than is currently known, but teeth can easily be overlooked due to their similarity to other taxa.


HortScience ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 554-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chairani Siregar

Borneo (Kalimantan) is the third largest island in the world. It is rich with various indigenous orchid species that grow epiphytically, terrestrially, or saprophytically in the forests. Its rain forests are also home to some rare species such as some Aërides sp., Bulbophyllum sp., Cymbidium sp., Dendrobium sp., Dimorphorchis sp., Grammatophyllum sp., Paphiopedilum sp., Phalaenopsis sp., Paraphalaenopsis sp., and Vanda sp., all of which have a very high economic value. These species are endangered and some of them may have not yet been found or discovered, because of the loss of habitat resulting from fire, forest damage, illegal logging, and orchid hunting either by domestic or foreign collectors. Until recently, there are only a few records on the orchid native to West Borneo. For this reason, a research was conducted to identify and create an inventory of all orchid species that exist in West Borneo before they become extinct along with their habitat and to conserve them ex situ. This research was conducted in 10 counties and one municipal city in West Borneo, and inventory was done through exploration. Orchids found were recorded and identified into their genera and their species by visual examination of vegetative and floral characteristics, respectively. A total of 197 species of orchids from 66 genera were identified, and among those, 27 species live as terrestrials, 169 species live as epiphytes, and one species lives as both an epiphyte and terrestrial.


Author(s):  
Joseph Levine

In this paper I investigate the problems for “locating” color in the world, surveying the various subjectivist and objectivist positions and finding them wanting. I then argue that the problem is that colors are “ways of appearing,” an odd kind of property that essentially implicates the mind and turns the problem of locating color into part of the mind–body problem. Rather than identify colors with objective surface features, such as surface spectral reflectance, or with dispositions to cause certain internal mental states, I treat them as relations holding between the subject and the objects of perception. This is seen to explain why colors are so hard to locate, and also accounts for several other features of color experience.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (34) ◽  
pp. 8927-8934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Hastings ◽  
Steven D. Gaines ◽  
Christopher Costello

Management of the diverse fisheries of the world has had mixed success. While managing single species in data-rich environments has been largely effective, perhaps the greatest challenge facing fishery managers is how to deal with mixed stocks of fish with a range of life histories that reside in the same location. Because many fishing gears are nonselective, and the costs of making gear selective can be high, a particular problem is bycatch of weak stocks. This problem is most severe when the weak stock is long-lived and has low fecundity and thus requires a very long recovery time once overfished. We investigate the role that marine reserves might play in solving this challenging and ubiquitous problem in ecosystem-based management. Evidence for marine reserves’ potential to manage fisheries in an ecosystem context has been mixed, so we develop a heuristic strategic mathematical model to obtain general conclusions about the merits of managing multispecies fisheries by using reserves relative to managing them with nonspatial approaches. We show that for many fisheries, yields of strong stocks can be increased, and persistence of weak stocks can be ensured, by using marine reserves rather than by using traditional nonspatial approaches alone. Thus, reserves have a distinct advantage as a management tool in many of the most critical multispecies settings. We also show how the West Coast groundfish fishery of the United States meets these conditions, suggesting that management by reserves may be a superior option in that case.


Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4852 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-210
Author(s):  
ZI-WEI YIN ◽  
PETER HLAVÁČ

The monospecific genus Syrraphesina Raffray, 1903 contains a single species distributed in eastern New Guinea. In this paper a second species from Lombok Island, S. agostii Yin & Hlaváč, sp. nov., is described, figured, and compared to S. pliciventris Raffray, 1903. A revised diagnosis of Syrraphesina is provided. The distribution of Clavigerini through the islands of the world is briefly discussed. 


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