Antennae of psychodid and sphaerocerid flies respond to a high variety of floral scent compounds of deceptive Arum maculatum L.

ABSTRACT: Insect-pollinated plants often release complex mixtures of floral scents to attract their pollinators. Yet scent compounds eliciting physiological or behavioural responses in pollinators have only been identified in few plant species. The sapromyiophilous aroid Arum maculatum releases a highly diverse dung-like scent with overall more than 300 different compounds recorded so far to attract its psychodid and other fly pollinators. The volatiles' role in pollinator attraction is mostly unknown. To identify potential behaviourally active compounds, we recorded electroantennographic responses of four Psychodidae and one Sphaeroceridae species to (1) inflorescence scents of A. maculatum and (2) the scents released by cow dung, likely imitated by the plant species. Here we show that these flies

SUBMITTER: Gfrerer E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8948215 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature