HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

First published online August 19, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800377 American Journal of Botany 96: 1722-1730 (2009) © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

What's this?

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Data All Versions of this Article: ajb.0800377v1 96/9/1722    most recent Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Google Scholar Articles by Proches, S. Articles by Johnson, S. D. PubMed Articles by Proches, S. Articles by Johnson, S. D. Agricola Articles by Proches, S. Articles by Johnson, S. D. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Beetle pollination of the fruit-scented cones of the South African cycad Stangeria eriopus¹

erban Proche^2,3,4 and Steven D. Johnson²

² School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa ³ School of Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa

ABSTRACT

There has been considerable uncertainty about the importance of wind vs. insects in cycad pollination, but recent studies in several cycad genera have indicated that these are pollinated primarily, if not exclusively, by insects. Stangeria represents an isolated southern African cycad lineage previously thought to be wind-pollinated. Unlike in most other cycads, there is no evidence of cone thermogenesis in Stangeria. We found that the scent of both male and female Stangeria cones mimics that of fermented fruit, the main volatiles being esters of acetic acid, ketones, and aldehydes. We found a large variety of insect visitors on the cones, the most common ones being sap and rove beetles (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae, Staphylinidae) and fruit flies (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Of these, only sap beetles (Nitidulidae) were able to effect pollination under experimental conditions. Because sap beetles are also pollinators of Cycas and members of several ancient angiosperm families, their role in the pollination of Stangeria adds interesting details to the role this group of insects has played in the history of plant–pollinator interactions.

Key Words: anemophily • cycads • deceptive pollination • dioecious plants • entomophily • fermented fruit mimicry • GC-MS • Nitidulidae • Stangeria

Received for publication 6 November 2008. Accepted for publication 1 April 2009.

FOOTNOTES

¹ This study was made possible by a National Research Foundation (NRF) postdoctoral grant to .P., and NRF Research Chair funding to S.D.J. The following people are thanked for assistance: C. Gerwel, M. Hensman, I. Kiepiel, L. Musthafa, E. Sieben (fieldwork); S. Bachoo, Z. Dindikazi, P. Pillay, J. Vermeulen (Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife); A. and D. Nel (Cycad Centre); B. Tarr (South African National Biodiversity Institute); J. Lamb, A. Young (UKZN) (access to plants); N. Crouch, C. Dalzell, J. Donaldson, A. Ellis, A. Jürgens, R. Kaiser, P. Massinga, A. Nel, T. Odendaal, D. Petersen, M. Proffit, J. Rodger, P. Rymer, A. Shuttleworth, S.-L. Steenhuisen, T. Suinyuy, R. Wolter, P. Wragg, P. Zacharias (discussion and/or laboratory techniques); A. Kirejtshuk (insect identification); and V. Bandu, T. Xuma (EM/photography).

⁴ Author for correspondence (e-mail: setapion{at}gmail.com)

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?