@article {23906, title = {{\textquoteleft}Bleeding{\textquoteright} flowers of Ceropegia gerrardii (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae) mimic wounded insects to attract kleptoparasitic fly pollinators}, journal = {New Phytologist}, volume = {239}, year = {2023}, month = {Apr-04-2023}, pages = {1490-1504}, abstract = {

Summary Kleptomyiophily, where flowers imitate wounded insects to attract \‘kleptoparasitic\’ flies as pollinators, is one of the most specialized types of floral mimicry and often involves physical trapping devices. However, the diversity of pollinators and functional floral traits involved in this form of mimicry remain poorly understood. We report a novel example of kleptomyiophily in the nontrapping flowers of Ceropegia gerrardii and explore the floral traits responsible for attracting pollinators. The pollinators, reproductive biology and floral traits (including epidermal surfaces, spectral reflectance and the composition of nectariferous petal secretions and scent) were investigated. Attractive volatiles were identified using electrophysiological and behavioural experiments. Ceropegia gerrardii was predominantly pollinated by kleptoparasitic Desmometopa spp. (Milichiidae) flies. The flower corollas extrude a protein- and sugar-containing secretion, similar to the haemolymph of wounded insects, on which the flies feed. Floral scent was chemically similar to that of injured honey bees. Four out of 24 electrophysiologically active compounds, all released by injured honey bees, were identified as key players in pollinator attraction. Our results suggest that C.\ gerrardii flowers chemically mimic wounded honey bees to attract kleptoparasitic flies and reward them with a secretion similar to the haemolymph on which they would normally feed.

}, keywords = {behavioural trap, Brachystelma, electroantennographic detection, floral scent, fly-pollination, haemolymph mimicry, honey bee mimicry, kleptoparasitism}, issn = {0028-646X, 1469-8137}, doi = {10.1111/nph.18888}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.18888}, author = {Heiduk, Annemarie and Brake, Irina and Shuttleworth, Adam and Johnson, Steven D.} } @article {23226, title = {Ceropegia sandersonii mimics attacked honeybees to attract kleptoparasitic flies for pollination}, journal = {Current Biology}, volume = {26}, year = {2016}, month = {2016/10/24}, pages = {1-7}, abstract = {

Four to six percent of plants, distributed over different angiosperm families, entice pollinators by deception [1]. In these systems, chemical mimicry is often used as an efficient way to exploit the olfactory preferences of animals for the purpose of attracting them as pollinators [2,3]. Here, we report a very specific type of chemical mimicry of a food source. Ceropegia sandersonii (Apocynaceae), a deceptive South African plant with pitfall flowers, mimics attacked honeybees. We identified kleptoparasitic Desmometopa flies (Milichiidae) as the main pollinators of C. sandersonii. These flies are well known to feed on honeybees that are eaten by spiders, which we thus predicted as the model chemically mimicked by the plant. Indeed, we found that the floral scent of C. sandersonii is comparable to volatiles released from honeybees when under simulated attack. Moreover, many of these shared compounds elicited physiological responses in antennae of pollinating Desmometopa flies. A mixture of four compounds\—geraniol, 2-heptanone, 2-nonanol, and (E)-2-octen-1-yl acetate\—was highly attractive to the flies. We conclude that C. sandersonii is specialized on kleptoparasitic fly pollinators by deploying volatiles linked to the flies\’ food source, i.e., attacked and/or freshly killed honeybees. The blend of compounds emitted by C. sandersonii is unusual among flowering plants and lures kleptoparasitic flies into the trap flowers. This study describes a new example of how a plant can achieve pollination through chemical mimicry of the food sources of adult carnivorous animals.

}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.085}, author = {A Heiduk and Irina Brake and Tschirnhaus, M. von and G{\"o}hl, M. and J{\"u}rgens, A. and Johnson, S. D. and Meve, U. and D{\"o}tterl, S.} } @article {4187, title = {A Synopsis of the world species of Desmometopa Loew (Diptera, Milichiidae)}, journal = {Contributions of the American Entomological Institute}, volume = {19(8)}, year = {1983}, pages = {1-69}, type = {article}, keywords = {biology, Desmometopa, distribution, genus description, key, Milichiidae, species description}, url = {http://milichiidae.info/sites/milichiidae.info/files/Sabrosky_1983.pdf}, author = {Sabrosky, C. W.} }