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relatively poorly diversified in morphology when compared to the spectacular
flowers of other groups [20]. In many species, flowers are visited by many insect
families and species (often more than 50 species), although maybe among these
insects only a single or a small number of species effectively act as pollinators [28].
The lack of correlation between pollen ornamentation and pollinators may be ac-
counted for by a weak degree of specialization in the pollination system, or it may
be that some other factors (like pollenkitt or scents for example) may be dominant
in the pollen-pollinator interaction.
In conclusion, it is our feeling that there is little to be gained from seeking
a general tendency concerning the relationship between the type of pollen or-
namentation and the pollination system across the angiosperms. The ornamen-
tation of the pollen wall is only one of the numerous elements that constitute
the pollination syndrome and certainly not the most important [29]. Like the
other factors [30], the relative importance of its role in the plant-pollinator in-
teraction may indeed vary among plant taxa or according to geography, and it
may have an adaptive value in some groups but evolve in a neutral way in other
groups.
competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors' Contributions
JS performed the coding and the optimization of the reconstruction of the charac-
ters, carried out all the comparative analyses, interpreted the data and contributed
to writing the manuscript. WJB provided the phylogenetic framework for the
Arecaceae. MCA assembled the dataset on the pollination type in Arecaceae. SN
supervised the study and contributed to writing the manuscript. All authors read
and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Laboratoire d'Écologie, Systématique et Évolu-
tion of the Université Paris-Sud 11. Thanks to Florian Jabbour for all the con-
structive discussions on comparative analyses and to Madeline M. Harley for pro-
viding data on the ornamentation type in Arecaceae.
