Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.10 ( a ) Empis sp., a pollinator of Corallorhiza maculata ; ( b ) Pimpla pedalis , a pollinator of
Corallorhiza striata , scale bars = 1 mm
Kipping ( 1971 ) captured several other flower visitors at his study site in the
Sierra Nevada Mountains of El Dorado County. These included three Lasioglossum
( Evylaeus ) ovaliceps Cockerell (Halictidae); two different bombyliid flies; and an
undescribed species of a small-headed fly, Eulonchus Gerstaecker (Acroceratidae).
However, none bore pollinaria.
A number of insect visitors have also been reported for C. trifida . For example,
Dungflies (Scalophaga), syrphid flies (Syrphidae) small hymenoptera, dance flies
( Empis ), and coleoptera have been recorded in Europe (Muller 1881 ; Kunth
1898-1905 ; Silen 1906b ; Evans 1919 ; Godfery 1933 ; Summerhayes 1951 ;
Danesch and Danesch 1962 ; Fuller 1980 ; Lang 1989 ). However, none were con-
firmed as pollinators. Silen ( 1906a, b ) found that a sticky disk was lacking in
C. trifida and that the pollinaria failed to adhere to either visiting insects or to a
pencil tip inserted into the flower. Claessens and Kleynen ( 1998 ) maintain that a
viscidium is present but that it loses its adhesive power in open flowers.
C. striata , on the other hand, with showy inflorescences and brightly colored,
striped flowers, appears well adapted to insect pollination (Fig. 6.9 ). Freudenstein
( 1997 ) observed a parasitic wasp, Pimpla pedalis (Cresson) [as Coccygomimus
pedalis (Cresson)] (Ichneumonidae; Hymenoptera) (Fig. 6.10b ) removing polli-
naria in Emmet County, Michigan. The possible role of this wasp as a major polli-
nator is consistent with a distribution largely coincident with that of the orchid
(Townes and Townes 1960 ). According to Freudenstein ( 1997 ), rotation of the stipe
Search WWH ::




Custom Search