Plants that emit a 'dead insect odor' to mediate pollen are reported
by Rupp, et al., Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2021
Some plants use insects to carry pollen and use sweet nectar as food to attract bees and moths. New research has revealed that some plants use the 'smell of dead insects' rather than sweet nectar to lure flies and transmit pollen.
Frontiers | Flowers of Deceptive Aristolochia microstoma Are Pollinated by Phorid Flies and Emit Volatiles Known From Invertebrate Carrion | Ecology and Evolution
First-of-its-kind flower smells like dead insects to imprison'coffin flies'
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-first-of-its-kind-dead-insects-imprison-coffin.html
This Unique Flower Smells Like Dead Insects to Attract And Trap Coffin Flies
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-unique-flower-smells-like-dead-insects-to-attract-and-trap-flies
Not all flowers give off a nice scent like roses, and some plants, like Rafflesia , give off a rotten odor that is likened to the 'smell of a stool' and attract flies. Many plants actually have nectar to feed on bees and butterflies, but rafflesia does not have carrion or feces to feed on flies, so it can be said that flies are fooled by rafflesia. I will. Similar to Rafflesia, 4 to 6% of flowering plants adopt a 'deceptive pollination strategy', and although they use scents and colors to attract pollen-transmitting insects, they seek them. No reward will be given.
by
One of the plants that adopts such a deceptive pollination strategy, the genus Dutchman's pipe (Aristolochia) , contains more than 550 species distributed mainly in the tropics and subtropics. The genus Dutchman's pipe has stamens and pistils in the tubular flowers, which attracts insects into the flowers to pollinate them, and eventually releases the insects and uses them for pollination again.
'Many dutchman's pipes are known to attract flies with the scent of animal carrion, feces, rotten plants, and fungi,' said Thomas Rupp , Ph.D. student at the University of Salzburg, Austria. Rupp's research team has noticed a type of Dutchman's pipe called 'Aristolochia microstoma' that is found only in Greece.
The flowers of Aristolochia microstoma have a plain brown color compared to other genus Dutchman's pipes, and the flowers bloom quietly near the surface such as between deciduous leaves and rocks. In addition, flowers are said to emit a strange odor like carrion, and until now it was thought that arthropods such as ants living near the surface of the earth were the main pollinators.
by Rupp, et al., Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2021
So Rupp's research team collected a total of 1457 Aristolochia microstoma flowers in three locations in Greece and analyzed the types of animals trapped in them. As a result, arthropods such as centipedes and collembolan were also found in the flowers, but it was found that the main pollinator was a fly called
Kusabinomi flies are also called 'coffin flies' and are known for their habit of laying eggs on rotten plants and animal carrion. When the research team analyzed the volatile components emitted by the flowers of Aristolochia microstoma, in addition to substances that emit strong sulfur and other odors, 8 to 47% of the total composition is a type of alkylpyrazine '2,5-dimethylpyrazine '. It turned out to be a substance called.
2,5-Dimethylpyrazine is a substance that causes a musty odor typical of roasted peanuts, and is said to occur in rodent urine and rotten beetle carcasses in nature. Little was known about the plants that produce this odorous substance, but the results of this study strongly suggest that Aristolochia microstoma uses a special substance to attract Dutchman's pipe flies.
'Our findings are the first known example of this deceiving pollinators with a dead insect-like odor rather than vertebrate carrion,' said Stefan Dötterl, a plant ecologist at the University of Salzburg. It shows that. ' The fact that the flowers of Aristolochia microstoma bloom near the ground may also help the Dutchman's pipe, which is looking for a breeding site, to misidentify it as a dead insect.
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