The long-tongued hawkmoth pollinator niche for native and invasive plants in Africa

Annals of Botany
Steven D Johnson, Robert A Raguso

Abstract

Unrelated organisms that share similar niches often exhibit patterns of convergent evolution in functional traits. Based on bimodal distributions of hawkmoth tongue lengths and tubular white flowers in Africa, this study hypothesized that long-tongued hawkmoths comprise a pollination niche (ecological opportunity) that is distinct from that of shorter-tongued hawkmoths. Field observations, light trapping, camera surveillance and pollen load analysis were used to identify pollinators of plant species with very long-tubed (>8 cm) flowers. The nectar properties and spectral reflectance of these flowers were also measured. The frequency distributions of proboscis length for all captured hawkmoths and floral tube length for a representative sample of night-blooming plant species were determined. The geographical distributions of both native and introduced plant species with very long floral tubes were mapped. The convolvulus hawkmoth Agrius convolvuli is identified as the most important pollinator of African plants with very long-tubed flowers. Plants pollinated by this hawkmoth species tend to have a very long (approx. 10 cm) and narrow flower tube or spur, white flowers and large volumes of dilute nectar. It is estimated that >70 ...Continue Reading

References

Mar 28, 2002·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Ronny Alexandersson, Steven D Johnson
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Jan 6, 2010·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Steven D Johnson
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Sep 25, 2014·The New Phytologist·José María GómezJavier Valverde

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Citations

Jul 8, 2016·Annals of Botany·Michael F Fay
Oct 26, 2016·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Federico D SazatornilFelipe W Amorim
Sep 19, 2018·Nature Communications·Qing LiuBo Wang
Nov 20, 2021·Biodiversity Data Journal·Esther N KiokoLawrence Monda

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