Ginger and the beetle: Evidence of primitive pollination system in a Himalayan endemic alpine ginger (Roscoea alpina, Zingiberaceae).

ABSTRACT: The Himalayan endemic alpine genus Roscoea, like other members of ginger family, exhibits the combination of floral traits that would fit pollination by long distant foragers such as bees, birds or flies. We studied the pollination biology of Roscoea alpina, observed potential floral visitors and determined their foraging behaviour, visitation frequency and pollination efficiency, to seek evidence in support of the pollination syndrome hypothesis. We also measured the floral spectra of R. alpina flowers to evaluate if signals fit with the currently known framework for observed floral visitors. We found that R. alpina have autonomous selfing and pollinator-mediated crossing, but lack apomixis. We observed that a beetle (Mylabris sp.), and a moth (Macroglossum nycteris) visit the flowers of

SUBMITTER: Paudel BR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5516977 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature