« Previous AbstractFloral scent compounds of Amazonian Annonaceae species pollinated by small beetles and thrips    Next AbstractThe hidden language of flowering plants: floral odours as a key for understanding angiosperm evolution? »

New Phytol

Title:		The chemical nature of fetid floral odours in stapeliads (Apocynaceae-Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae)
Author(s):		Jurgens A; Dotterl S; Meve U;
Address:		"HortResearch, Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre, Lincoln 8152, New Zealand. andreas.juergens@pollination.de"
Journal Title:		New Phytol
Year:		2006
Volume:		172
Issue:		3
Page Number:		452 - 468
DOI:		10.1111/j.1469-8137.2006.01845.x
ISSN/ISBN:		0028-646X (Print) 0028-646X (Linking)
Abstract:		"By emitting strong fetid scents, sapromyiophilous flowers mimic brood and food sites of flies to attract them as pollinators. To date, intensive comparative scent analyses have been restricted to sapromyiophilous Araceae. Here, we analysed flower volatiles of fetid stapeliads to improve our understanding of the floral biology of fly pollinated species, and to learn whether mimicry types comparable to those found in Araceae exist. Floral volatiles of 15 species out of 11 genera within the Asclepiadoideae-Ceropegieae-Stapeliinae were collected via headspace adsorption and thermal desorption and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectometry (GC-MS). Data were analysed using CNESS-NMDS statistics. Sapromyiophilous stapeliads are highly diverse in their scent composition, in which sulphur compounds, benzenoids, fatty acid derivatives or nitrogen-containing compounds dominate. Four groups are evident: species with high p-cresol content but low amounts of polysulphides (herbivore faeces mimicry); species with mainly polysulphides and low amounts of p-cresol (carnivore/omnivore faeces or carcass mimicry); species with high amounts of heptanal and octanal (carnivore/omnivore faeces or carcass mimicry); and species with hexanoic acid (urine mimicry). Considering the findings in the unrelated Araceae, our results support the universality of different mimicry types that are obviously subsumed under the sapromyiophilous syndrome"
Keywords:		Animals Apocynaceae/*metabolism Diptera/physiology Flowers/anatomy & histology/*chemistry/*metabolism Odorants/*analysis Volatilization;
Notes:		"MedlineJurgens, Andreas Dotterl, Stefan Meve, Ulrich eng England 2006/11/07 New Phytol. 2006; 172(3):452-68. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2006.01845.x"