True Facts: Flowers That Screw Flies

Join me at https://www.patreon.com/truefacts Merch: https://ze-true-store.myshopify.com/ TF Educational channel: ⁨ @truefactseducational9288 Thank you Dr. Steven Johnson, Bruce Anderson, Dr. Timotheüs Van der Niet. Citations: Bjçrn Bohman et al. 2017. The Spider Orchid Caladenia crebra Produces Sulfurous Pheromone Mimics to Attract its Male Wasp Pollinator. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 8455 –845. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201702864 Herbert Braunschmid et al. 2017. Interpopulation variation in pollinators and floral scent of the lady’s-slipper orchid Cypripedium calceolus L. Arthropod-Plant Interactions (2017) 11:363–379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-017-9512-x João C. F. Cardoso et al. 2023. The lady’s ‘slippery’ orchid: functions of the floral trap and aphid mimicry in a hoverfly-pollinated Phragmipedium species in Brazil. Annals of Botany 131: 275–286. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcac140 Karen Gil-Amaya et al. 2026. Pollination ecology of Dracula erythrochaete (Orchidaceae): brood-site imitation or food deception? Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2025, 207, 279–297. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boae054 Tobias Hayashiet et al. 2022. Sexual deception of male Bradysia (Diptera: Sciaridae) by floral odour and morphological cues in Pterostylis (Orchidaceae.) Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2022, 200, 433–449. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boac015 Annemarie Heiduk et al. 2023. ‘Bleeding’ flowers of Ceropegia gerrardii (Apocynaceae- Asclepiadoideae) mimic wounded insects to attract kleptoparasitic fly pollinators. New Phytologist (2023) 239: 1490–1504 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18888 Hong Jianget et al. 2020. Cypripedium subtropicum (Orchidaceae) employs aphid colony mimicry to attract hoverfly (Syrphidae) pollinators.New Phytologist (2020) 227: 1213–1221 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16623 Johnson, S. D. et al. 2026. Pollination by long‐proboscid horseflies and its implications for reproductive isolation among coflowering Satyrium orchids in South Africa. American Journal of Botany 113(6): e70221. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.70221 Kellenberger et al., 2023. Multiple gene co-options underlie the rapid evolution of sexually deceptive flowers in Gorteria diffusa. Current Biology 33, 1502–1512 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.03.003 Aroonrat Kidyoo et al. 2022. Pollinator and floral odor specificity among four synchronopatric species of Ceropegia (Apocynaceae) suggests ethological isolation that prevents reproductive interference. Nature Scientific Reports 12:13788 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18031-z Giorgio C. Lombardia et al. 2021. Pollination biology of Erica aristata: First confirmation of long-proboscis fly-pollination in the Ericaceae. South African Journal of Botany. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2021.07.007 Florent Martos et al. 2015. Chemical and morphological filters in a specialized floral mimicry system. New Phytologist (2015) 207: 225–234. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13350 Carlos A. Matallana-­Puerto et al. 2024. Sex, flies and flower trap: Trapping trichomes and their function in pollination. Functional Ecology. 2024;38:2261–2270. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14633 Galilea Orellana‑Vera et al. 2025. Experimental evidence of pollination by deception in a dioecious palm. BMC Ecology and Evolution (2025) 25:46 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02388-6 Ana Ospina-M et al. 2024. The sweet path of Hansel and Gretel: pollination system of Masdevallia hortensis (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) in a cloud montane forest of the Cordillera Occidental, in Colombia. Plant Systematics and Evolution (2024) 310:43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-024-01924-z D. Rakosy et al. 2017. Looks matter: changes in flower form affect pollination effectiveness in a sexually deceptive orchid. J. Evol. Biol. 30 (2017) 1978-1993. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13153 Anna Vlasankova et al. 2017. The nectar spur is not only a simple specialization for long-proboscid pollinators. New Phytologist (2017) 215: 1574–1581. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.14677 Zhang, S. et al. (2024). Floral mechanisms promote pollination success and reduce the incidence of self-­ pollination in a fly-­ pollinated self-­ incompatible orchid. Ecology and Evolution, 14, e11295. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11295