@article {23518, title = {Floral scent and pollinators of Ceropegia trap flowers}, journal = {Flora}, volume = {232}, year = {2017}, pages = {169{\textendash}182}, abstract = {

Ceropegia L. (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae) comprises more than 200 species, all characterized by complex pitfall flowers. The deceptive flowers are myiophilous and pollinated predominantly by small flies from different families. It has been suggested that floral scent cues, that mimic food sources or oviposition sites, play an important role for attraction of target fly pollinators, and, together with morphological flower traits, explain the high functional specialization in terms of pollination by specific taxa. However, apart from two Ceropegia species, the floral scent composition and the mimicry strategies in this genus are unexplored. We tested for associations between floral scent and insect visitor and pollinator assemblages of 14 Ceropegia species. We also used nrDNA and chloroplast DNA markers to calculate a Maximum Likelihood tree and test for phylogenetic signal in scent chemistry and flower visitors/pollinators. The observed pollinators belonged to eight fly families, at least 18 genera, and 33 morphospecies, but each Ceropegia species was typically associated with only one or two pollinating fly families or genera. We detected a total of 317 floral volatiles, including aliphatic and aromatic components, terpenes, and various unknowns. Both flower visitor and pollinator patterns did not show an overall association with floral
scent chemistry. There was phylogenetic signal in flower visiting fly families and fly pollinator assemblages, but not in flower visiting fly morphospecies and overall scent chemistry. We discuss that despite the not existing correlation between pollinator and scent patterns the highly specific pollination system in Ceropegia will be explained mainly by floral scent chemistry.

}, keywords = {Chemical mimicry, Deceptive strategy, Fly pollination, Pollen transfer efficiency, Scent specificity}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.flora.2017.02.001}, author = {A Heiduk and Irina Brake and Tschirnhaus, M. von and Haenni, J. P. and Miller, R. and Hash, J. and Prieto-Ben{\'\i}tez, S. and J{\"u}rgens, A. and Johnson, S. D. and Schulz, S. and Liede-Schumann, S. and Meve, U. and D{\"o}tterl, S.} } @article {21988, title = {Fly pollination in Ceropegia (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae): biogeographic and phylogenetic perspectives}, journal = {Annals of Botany}, volume = {103}, year = {2009}, pages = {1501-1514}, keywords = {Ceropegia, pollination}, doi = {10.1093/aob/mcp072}, url = {http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/103/9/1501.full.pdf}, author = {Ollerton, J. and Masinde, P. S. and Meve, U. and Picker, M. and Whittington, A.} } @article {15990, title = {Scent chemistry and pollinator attraction in the deceptive trap flowers of Ceropegia dolichophylla}, journal = {South African Journal of Botany}, volume = {76}, year = {2010}, pages = {762}, chapter = {769}, abstract = {Ceropegia species (Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae) have pitfall flowers and are pollinated by small flies through deception. It has beensuggested that these flies are attracted by floral scent. However, the scent that is emitted from Ceropegia flowers has not been studied usingheadspace and gas chromatography mass spectrometry methods. It has also been unclear whether or not the flowers are mimics of particularmodels that attract flies. In the present study, we determined the composition as well as the spatial and temporal patterns of floral scent emitted byC. dolichophylla. Furthermore, we determined the pollinators in the native (China) and non-native (Germany) range of this species, and tested thecapability of the floral scent to attract flies in the non-native range. Our data demonstrate that the floral scent, which is emitted from morning untilevening, primarily from the tips of the corolla lobes, consists mainly of spiroacetals and aliphatic compounds. Milichiid flies were commonvisitors/pollinators in the native as well as non-native range, and were attracted by floral scent in bioassays performed in the non-native range. Thecompounds emitted by C. dolichophylla are unusual for flowers, but are well known from insect pheromones and occur in the glandular secretionsof insects. The milichiid flies that visit and pollinate the flowers are kleptoparasites that feed on the prey (haemolymph or other secretions) ofpredatory arthropods, e.g. spiders, to which they are attracted by scent. Our data thus suggest that the floral scent of C. dolichophylla mimics thefeeding sites of kleptoparasitic flies.}, keywords = {China, Desmometopa sordida, Germany, Milichiidae, Neophyllomyza acyglossa, Neophyllomyza sp., pollination}, url = {http://milichiidae.info/sites/milichiidae.info/files/Heiduk\%20et\%20al_2010.pdf}, author = {A Heiduk and Irina Brake and Tolasch, T. and Frank, J. and J{\"u}rgens, A. and Meve, U. and D{\"o}tterl, S.} }