Why sexually deceptive orchids have colored flowers

Abstract

Sexually deceptive orchids provide no reward to their pollinators. Instead, they mimic the sex pheromone of receptive insect females to attract males which pollinate the flowers in mating attempts. Nearly all species of the Mediterranean orchid genus Ophrys are sexually deceptive and pollinated by solitary bees and wasps. Due to the use of a highly specific olfactory communication channel most Ophrys species have, in contrast to food deceptive or rewarding orchids, an inconspicuous greenish perianth and a dark brownish labellum. However, some species possess a bright pink or white perianth, and the functional significant of such colour signals in the orchid-pollinator communication system is unknown. We recently showed that the pink perianth of Ophrys heldreichii increases the performance of its bee pollinator, males of the long-horned bee Eucera (Tetralonia) berlandi, to detect the flower at short-range. At great distances (>30cm) from the flower, male search behavior was found to be olfactory guided and unaffected by the spectral property of the perianth, i.e. chromatic and green receptor-specific contrast. However, in the near vicinity of the flower (<30cm), where spatial vision is sufficient to detect the flower, search time only correlated with the green receptor-specific contrast between the perianth and the background.

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Figures and Tables

Figure 1 Two types of perianths in the sexually deceptive orchid genus Ophrys. O. cephalonica (A) possesses a green perianth which appears similar in colour to the leaves and stem. O. heldreichii (B), in contrast, shows a conspicuous pink perianth. Males of Eucera (Tetralonia) berlandi (C) have enlarged eyes and antennae compared to their females and are the pollinators of O. heldreichii.

Figure 2 Frequency of Ophrys species which possess a green (green column) and a pink or white (pink column) perianth and are pollinated by Andrena (A) and Eucerini (B) males.

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