Natures wonders: sexy orchid gets pollinated (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, May 07, 2017, 21:33 (2755 days ago) @ David Turell

By producing female wasp pheromones smell-alikes , this orchid species invites the male wasps over for a visit and get pollinated:

https://phys.org/news/2017-05-sexually-deceptive-spider-orchids-wasps.html

"Scientists at The University of Western Australia, in collaboration with researchers from The Australian National University, have uncovered the chemical compounds used by a species of spider orchid (Caladenia) to sexually seduce male wasp pollinators.

"Pollination by sexual deception is an extremely specialised pollination strategy used by many Australian orchids. These orchid mimic the sex pheromone of a female wasp in order to lure the male to pollinate the flower by the false promise of sex.

"Dr Bjorn Bohman from UWA's School of Molecular Sciences said the researchers were able to demonstrate for the first time the makeup of sulfur-containing chemicals the spider orchid uses to attract wasps for pollination.

"'We demonstrated the spider orchid, attracts its pollinator with a unique system of chemicals never seen before in science," Dr Bohman said.
 
"'The same chemicals mimic the sex pheromone of the wasp, and also represent the first occurrence of sulfur containing sex pheromones in the hymenoptera, the group of insects containing wasps, bees and ants."

***

"Spider orchids are a diverse collection of Australian orchids, comprising over 360 species. They use multiple pollination strategies including food-reward, food-deception and most bizarrely, sexual deception.

"Until now the identity of the chemicals involved in sexual deception have remained elusive for any spider orchid species.

"'Studies of the chemistry of this group, beyond revealing new natural chemicals, also offer a unique opportunity to understand the role of floral odors in the evolution of sexual deception as a pollination strategy," Dr Bohman said.

"The power of these sex pheromones can be seen in remarkable footage where a male wasp abandons his female partner in preference for copulation with the flower. 

"These unprecedented observations confirm the extreme sexual attractiveness of the spider orchid to the pollinators, via mimicry of the sex pheromones."

Comment: Pollination is a major step in producing the food chain. Without pollination many food sources would not exist. Pheromones are forms of perfume and are complex molecules. How did the orchid hit upon these compounds and this method of guaranteeing pollinaton? Not by chance, but by design.