Hybrid floral scent novelty drives pollinator shift in sexually deceptive orchids |
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Authors: | Nicolas J Vereecken Salvatore Cozzolino Florian P Schiestl |
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Institution: | 1.Evolutionary Biology & Ecology,Free University of Brussels/Université Libre de Bruxelles,Brussels,Belgium;2.Institute of Systematic Botany,University of Zürich,Zürich,Switzerland;3.Department of Structural and Functional Biology,University of Naples "Federico II" Complesso Universitario Monte Sant'Angelo,Napoli,Italy |
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Abstract: | Background Sexually deceptive orchids of the genus Ophrys attract their pollinators, male insects, on a highly specific basis through the emission of odour blends that mimic the female
sex pheromone of the targeted species. In this study, we have investigated a contact site between Ophrys arachnitiformis and O. lupercalis, two sympatric orchid species that are usually reproductively isolated via the exploitation of different pollinator "niches", but occasionally hybridise despite their apparent combination of ethological
and mechanical isolation barriers. In particular, we have investigated the extent to which these Ophrys hybrids generate "emergent" combinations (i.e. novel and unpredictable from the parents' phenotypes) of floral traits, and
how these phenotypic novelties, particularly the odour blends emitted by the flower, could facilitate the invasion of a novel
pollinator "niche" and induce the rapid formation of reproductive isolation, a prerequisite for adaptive evolutionary divergence. |
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