Re: [aroid-l] From Peru

From: Marc Gibernau gibernau at aurore.cict.fr> on 2002.08.23 at 12:31:45(9273) Dear Julius, Jorge and Huw and other Aroiders, About non-pollinators visiting insects, I know that in Philodendron solimoesense and melinonii, trigona bees visit 2-d inflorescences to collect pollen and some resin but they do not damage the inflorescence. I have paper in press in International Journal of Plant Sciences (November) about gall-maker chalcid wasps that parasite the seeds of Philodendron solimoesense. Interestingly they lay their eggs when the floral chamber is open (not through the spathe) and many (several tens) died trapped when the spathe wrap tightly around the spadix. More puzzling in French Guiana, Montrichardia arborescens is pollinated by mainly Cyclocephala colasi (Dynastid, Scarab). Contrary to Philodendron, Xanthosoma,..., in Montrichardia there are no sterile flowers, thus no food rewards for the pollinating beetles. I've observed that the pollinating beetles ate/chewed the upper part of the female flowers (a few millimeters) without apparently damaging the seeds. All the best, Marc Gibernau

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.