Staying in touch: how highly specialised moth pollinators track host plant phenology in unpredictable climates.

ABSTRACT:

Background

For specialised pollinators, the synchrony of plant and pollinator life history is critical to the persistence of pollinator populations. This is even more critical in nursery pollination, where pollinators are obligately dependant on female host plant flowers for oviposition sites. Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae) form highly specialised nursery pollination mutualisms with Phyllanthaceae plants. Several hundred Phyllanthaceae are estimated to be exclusively pollinated by highly specific Epicephala moths, making these mutualisms an outstanding example of plant-insect coevolution. However, there have been no studies of how Epicephala moths synchronise their activity with host plant flowering or persist through periods when flowers are absent. Such knowledge is critical t

SUBMITTER: Finch JTD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8383429 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature