Pollinators (and Visitors) of Aroid Inflorescences

by Marc Gibernau 

This web page is a summary of the paper published in Aroideana (Gibernau M., 2003 - 26 : 66-83), where you'll find the complete literature references. 

Data on aroid pollinators was first summarised by Grayum in 1984 who documented 35 genera and about 90 species. A second summary was published in 1997 in The Genera of Araceae by Mayo, Bogner and Boyce with 38 genera and less than 100 species listed. The present table brings the reference list up to date since 1997, documenting the pollinators of 50 genera and about 125 species. In particular, pollinators from 9 new genera are presented, namely: Aglaonema, Biarum, Eminium, Furtadoa, Gearum, Pinellia, Rhaphidophora, Sauromatum and Theriophonum. These numbers are still very low in comparison with the diversity of the Araceae family which contains 105 genera and about 3,300 species. It is important to note that the list given in the Table below does not distinguish between pollinators and visitors. 

Table : Adapted from Mayo, Bogner and Boyce (1997) and Grayum (1984, 1986, 1990) with new and updated references on aroid pollinators/visitors. 

Subfamily / tribe

Genera

Bees

Beetles

Flies

Others

Orontioideae

Lysichiton

 

Staphylinidae

Anthomyiidae

Lauxaniidae

Various flies

 

Orontioideae

Symplocarpus

"hive bees"

Staphylinidae

Drosophilidae

Psychodidae

Chloropidae

Ceratopogonidae

Chironomidae

Simuliidae

Cecidomyiidae

Muscidae

Wind (self-pollination)

Various invertebrates

Pothoideae /

Anthurieae

Anthurium

Euglossine

Curculionidae

Staphylinidae

 

Self-pollination (wind?)

 

 

Hummingbird

Monsteroideae /

Monstereae

Monstera

Trigone

 

 

 

Scarabaeidae

 

 

Monsteroideae /

Monstereae

Rhaphidophora

 

Scarabaeidae

 

 

Monsteroideae /

Monstereae

Rhodospatha

 

"beetles"

 

 

Monsteroideae /

Spathiphylleae

Spathiphyllum

Euglossine

Trigone

Halictidae

Chrysomelidae

Drosophilidae

Tephritidae

 

Lasioideae

Cyrtosperma

 

Nitidulidae

 

 

Lasioideae

Dracontium

 

 

"myiophilous"

 

Lasioideae

Urospatha

 

Nitidulidae

 

 

Calloideae

Calla

 

"small beetles"

Syrphidae

"small flies"

 

Aroideae /

Spathicarpeae

Gearum

 

 

Richardiidae

 

Aroideae /

Dieffenbachieae

Dieffenbachia

 

Scarabaeidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Philodendreae

Philodendron

 

Scarabaeidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Homalomeneae

Furtadoa

 

Chrysomelidae

Drosophilidae

 

Aroideae /

Homalomeneae

Homalomena

 

Scarabaeidae (neotropics)

Chrysomelidae

In Malaya

 

Drosophilidae

(Asia)

 

Aroideae /

Montrichardieae

Montrichardia

"bees"

 

Scarabaeidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Anubieae

Anubias

 

Nitidulidae

Scarabaeidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Schismatoglottideae

Aridarum

 

Nitidulidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Schismatoglottideae

Piptospatha

 

Staphylinidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Schismatoglottideae

Schismatoglottis

 

 

Drosophilidae

 

Aroideae /

Caladieae

Caladium

 

Scarabaeidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Caladieae

Chlorospatha

 

Staphylinidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Caladieae

Syngonium

 

Scarabaeidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Caladieae

Xanthosoma

Euglossine

Scarabaeidae

(Nitidulidae)

Drosophilidae

 

Aroideae /

Thomsonieae

Amorphophallus

Trigone

Asilidae

Cetoniidae

Nitidulidae

Scarabaeidae

Silphidae

Staphylinidae

Hybosoridae

Histeridae

Calliphoridae

Platystomatidae

 

Aroideae /

Aglaonemateae

Aglaonema

 

 

Drosophilidae

 

Aroideae /

Zantedeschieae

Zantedeschia

 

Scarabaeidae

Scydmaenidae

 

 

Aroideae /

Nephthytideae

Anchomanes

Trigone

Nitidulidae

Lonchaeidae

 

Aroideae /

Nephthytideae

Nephthytis

 

Nitidulidae

Drosophilidae

 

Aroideae /

Nephthytideae

Pseudohydrosme

 

Scaphidiidae

Staphylinidae

Choridae