| Title: | "Coevolution with pollinating resin midges led to resin-filled nurseries in the androecia, gynoecia and tepals of Kadsura (Schisandraceae)" |
| Author(s): | Luo SX; Liu TT; Cui F; Yang ZY; Hu XY; Renner SS; |
| Address: | "Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China. Public Laboratory, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China. Systematic Botany and Mycology, Faculty of Biology, University of Munich (LMU), D-80638 Munich, Germany" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1095-8290 (Electronic) 0305-7364 (Print) 0305-7364 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Resin is a defence against herbivores and a floral reward in a few African and South American species whose bee pollinators collect it for nest construction. Here we describe a new role for floral resin from the Asian genus Kadsura (Schisandraceae). Kadsura tepals tightly cover a globe formed by carpels (in females) or near-fused stamens with fleshy connectives (in male flowers of most, but not all species). METHODS: We carried out field observations at four sites in China and used pollinator behavioural assays, chemical analyses and time-calibrated insect and plant phylogenies to investigate the specificity of the interactions and their relationship to floral structure. KEY RESULTS: Nocturnal resin midges ( Resseliella , Cecidomyiidae) walk around on the flowers' sexual organs to oviposit, thereby transferring pollen and wounding tissues. The larvae then develop in resin-filled chambers. Male and female floral scents are dominated by alpha-pinene, while the resinous exudate is dominated by caryophyllene. As revealed by barcoding of multiple midge larvae per flower species, the mutualisms are species specific and appear to have evolved over the past 6-9 million years. CONCLUSIONS: Resin feeding, not pollen or ovule feeding, by midge larvae explains the abundant Kadsura exudates, highlighting the poorly known world of nocturnal flower-fly interactions" |
| Keywords: | "Animals *Biological Coevolution China Diptera/*physiology Evolution, Molecular Flowers/anatomy & histology/chemistry Kadsura/*anatomy & histology/*chemistry Odorants/*analysis Phylogeny *Pollination Symbiosis Basal angiosperms Diptera coevolution molecula;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineLuo, Shi-Xiao Liu, Ting-Ting Cui, Fei Yang, Zi-Yin Hu, Xiao-Ying Renner, Susanne S eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2017/04/27 Ann Bot. 2017 Nov 10; 120(5):653-664. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcx024" |
