Pollinator Deception in the Orchid Mantis

Title
Pollinator Deception in the Orchid Mantis
Publication Date
2014-01
Author(s)
O'Hanlon, James C
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7382-5543
Email: johanlon@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:johanlon
Holwell, Gregory I
Herberstein, Marie E
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1086/673858
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/27645
Abstract
Mimicry has evolved in contexts such as camouflage, predator deterrence, luring of prey, and pollinator attraction. Mimicry of flowers has until now been demonstrated only in angiosperms, yet it has been hypothesized that the Malaysian orchid mantis Hymenopus coronatus mimics a flower to attract pollinators as prey. Despite the popularity of this charismatic insect, this long-discussed hypothesis has never been experimentally investigated. We found that, as predicted for mimicry, the color of H. coronatus is indistinguishable from the color of sympatric flowers for hymenopteran pollinators. Field experiments show that isolated mantises attract wild pollinators at a rate even higher than flowers and capture these pollinators as prey items. After more than a century of conjecture, we provide the first experimental evidence of pollinator deception in the orchid mantis and the first description of a unique predatory strategy that has not been documented in any other animal species.
Link
Citation
The American Naturalist, 183(1), p. 126-132
ISSN
1537-5323
0003-0147
Pubmed ID
24334741
Start page
126
End page
132

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