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Entomophily
Entomophily or insect pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen of plants, especially but not only of flowering plants, is distributed by insects. Flowers pollinated by insects typically advertise themselves with bright colours, sometimes with conspicuous patterns (honey guides) leading to rewards of pollen and nectar; they may also have an attractive scent which in some cases mimics insect pheromones. Insect pollinators such as bees have adaptations for their role, such as lapping or sucking mouthparts to take in nectar, and in some species also pollen baskets on their hind legs. This required the coevolution of insects and flowering plants in the development of pollination behaviour by the insects and pollination mechanisms by the flowers, benefiting both groups. Coevolution History The early spermatophytes (seed plants) were largely dependent on the wind to carry their pollen from one plant to another. Prior to the appearance of flowering plants some gymnospe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coevolution
In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well as gene-culture coevolution. Charles Darwin mentioned evolutionary interactions between flowering plants and insects in ''On the Origin of Species'' (1859). Although he did not use the word coevolution, he suggested how plants and insects could evolve through reciprocal evolutionary changes. Naturalists in the late 1800s studied other examples of how interactions among species could result in reciprocal evolutionary change. Beginning in the 1940s, plant pathologists developed breeding programs that were examples of human-induced coevolution. Development of new crop plant varieties that were resistant to some diseases favored rapid evolution in pathogen populations to overcome those plant defenses. That, in turn, required the development of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pollination
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves, when self-pollination occurs within a closed flower. Pollination often occurs within a species. When pollination occurs between species, it can produce hybrid offspring in nature and in plant breeding work. In angiosperms, after the pollen grain (gametophyte) has landed on the stigma, it germinates and develops a pollen tube which grows down the style until it reaches an ovary. Its two gametes travel down the tube to where the gametophyte(s) containing the female gametes are held within the carpel. After entering an ovum cell through the micropyle, one male nucleus fuses with the polar bodies to produce the endosperm tissues, while the other fuses with the ovule to produce the embr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Pollination
Anemophily or wind pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by wind. Almost all gymnosperms are anemophilous, as are many plants in the order Poales, including grasses, sedges, and rushes. Other common anemophilous plants are oaks, pecans, pistachios, sweet chestnuts, alders and members of the family Juglandaceae (hickory or walnut family). Approximately 12% of plants across the globe are pollinated by anemophily, including cereal crops like rice and corn and other prominent crop plants like wheat, rye, barley, and oats. In addition, many pines, spruces, and firs are wind-pollinated, and. Syndrome Features of the wind-pollination syndrome include a lack of scent production, a lack of showy floral parts (resulting in small, inconspicuous flowers), reduced production of nectar, and the production of enormous numbers of pollen grains. This distinguishes them from entomophilous and zoophilous species (whose pollen is spread by insects and vertebrates re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Advertising In Biology
Advertising in biology means the use of displays by organisms such as animals and plants to signal their presence for some evolutionary reason. Such signalling may be honest, used to attract other organisms, as when flowers use bright colours, patterns, and scent to attract pollinators such as bees; or, again honestly, to warn off other organisms, as when distasteful animals use warning coloration to prevent attacks from potential predators. Such honest advertising benefits both the sender and the receiver. Other organisms may advertise dishonestly; in Batesian mimicry, edible animals more or less accurately mimic distasteful animals to reduce their own risk of being attacked by predators. In plants Insect-pollinated flowers use bright colours, patterns, rewards of nectar and pollen, and scent to attract pollinators such as bees. Some also use drugs such as caffeine to encourage bees to return more often. Advertising is influenced by sexual selection: in dioecious plants lik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bee Pollinating A Flower
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are presently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 16,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some speciesincluding honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless beeslive socially in colonies while most species (>90%)including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat beesare solitary. Bees are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species, whose workers are less than long, to ''Megachile pluto'', the large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalligrammatid
Kalligrammatidae, sometimes known as kalligrammatids or kalligrammatid lacewings, is a family of extinct insects in the order Neuroptera (lacewings) that contains twenty genera and a number of species. The family lived from the Middle Jurassic to the early Late Cretaceous before going extinct. Species of the family are known from Europe, Asia, and South America. The family has been occasionally described as "butterflies of the Jurassic" based on their resemblance to modern butterflies in morphology and ecological niche. Range The known distribution of Kalligrammatidae is widespread both in time and in location. Fossils of the family have been recovered from sediments in Western Europe, the British Isles, Central Asia, and China. The majority of described species, thirty one, are from Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils found in China. Eight species are known from Kazakhstan, the second largest number of species for a single country, while only two species are represented by foss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sisyridae
Sisyridae, commonly known as spongeflies or spongillaflies, are a family of winged insects in the order Neuroptera. There are approximately 60 living species described, and several extinct species identified from the fossil record. Description In general appearance, the adults resemble some brown lacewings (Hemerobiidae). The forewings of spongillaflies have a span of 4–10 millimetres. The greyish or brownish wings have few cross veins except in the costal field, and most of these are not forked. The subcostal (Sc) and radial (R1) veins are fused near the wingtip. The larvae of spongillaflies look rather bizarre. Similar to those of some osmylids (Osmylidae) at first glance, they have spindly legs on a bulky thorax, long antennae, and flexible, threadlike mouthparts. However, the second and third instars carry seven pairs of jointed, movable tracheal gills beneath their plump abdomen. These gills are possessed by no other extant insect family, and readily distinguish them ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhangsolvidae
Zhangsolvidae is an extinct family of brachyceran Fly, flies known from the Cretaceous period. Members of the family possess a long proboscis, varying in length between 1.3 and 7 mm depending on the species, and were probably nectarivores. A specimen has been found with preserved Bennettitales pollen, suggesting that they acted as pollinators for extinct gymnosperms. They are considered to be members of the Stratiomyomorpha. Taxonomy * †''Buccinatormyia'' Arillo et al. 2015 ** †''Buccinatormyia gangnami'' Khramov and Nam 2019 Jinju Formation , South Korea, Albian ** †''Buccinatormyia magnifica'' Arillo et al. 2015 Spanish amber, Albian ** †''Buccinatormyia soplaensis'' Arillo et al. 2015 Spanish amber, Albian * †''Burmomyia'' Zhang and Wang 2019 ** †''Burmomyia rossi'' Zhang and Wang 2019 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian * †''Cratomyia'' Mazzarolo and Amorim 2000 ** †''Cratomyia cretacica'' Wilkommen 2007 Crato Formation , Brazil, Aptian ** †''Cratomyia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nemestrinidae
Nemestrinidae, or tangle-veined flies is a family of flies in the superfamily Nemestrinoidea, closely related to Acroceridae. The family is small but distributed worldwide, with about 300 species in 34 genera. Larvae are endoparasitoids of either grasshoppers (Trichopsideinae) or scarab beetles (Hirmoneurinae). Some are considered important in the control of grasshopper populations. Adults are often observed on flowers. Genera * '' Atriadops'' * '' Ceyloniola'' * '' Cyclopsidea'' * '' Fallenia'' * '' Hirmoneura'' * '' Hyrmophlaeba'' Rondani, 1864 * '' Moegistorhynchus'' * '' Nemestrinus'' * '' Neohirmoneura'' * '' Neorhynchocephalus'' Lichtwardt, 1909 * '' Nycterimorpha'' * '' Nycterimyia'' * '' Prosoeca'' * '' Stenobasipteron'' * '' Stenopteromyia'' * '' Trichophthalma'' * '' Trichopsidea'' Westwood, 1839 Data sources: i = ITIS, c = Catalogue of Life, g = GBIF, b = Bugguide.net Fossil history Fossils of Nemestrinidae are known from several localities of various ages in Russi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acroceridae
The Acroceridae are a small family (biology), family of odd-looking flies. They have a hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head, generally with a long proboscis for accessing nectar. They are rare and not widely known. The most frequently applied common names are small-headed flies or hunch-back flies. Many are bee or wasp mimicry, mimics. Because they are parasitoids of spiders, they also are sometimes known as spider flies. Description The Acroceridae vary in size from small to fairly large, about the size of large bees, with a wingspan over 25 mm in some species. As a rule, both sexes have tiny heads and a characteristic hump-backed appearance because of the large, rounded thorax. In appearance, they are compact flies without major bristles, but many species have a bee-like hairiness on their bodies, and some are bee or wasp mimicry, mimics. In most species, the eyes are holoptic in both sexes, the heads seemingly composed mainly of the large ommatidia, facete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse-fly
Horse-flies or horseflies are true Fly, flies in the family Tabanidae in the insect Order (biology), order Diptera. They are often large and agile in flight, and only the female horseflies bite animals, including humans, to hematophagy, obtain blood. They prefer to fly in sunlight, avoiding dark and shady areas, and are inactive at night. They are found all over the world except for some islands and the polar regions (Hawaii, Greenland, Iceland). Both horse-flies and Botfly, botflies (Oestridae) are sometimes referred to as gadflies. Adult horse-flies feed on nectar and plant exudates; the males have weak insect mouthparts, mouthparts and only the females bite animals to obtain enough protein from blood to produce eggs. The mouthparts of females are formed into a stout stabbing organ with two pairs of sharp cutting blades, and a spongelike part used to lap up the blood that flows from the wound. The larvae are Predation, predaceous and grow in semiaquatic habitats. Female hor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopsychidae
Mesopsychidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies known from the Late Permian to Mid Cretaceous. It is part of Mesopsychoidea, a group of scorpionflies with siphonate proboscis. They are suggested to have been nectarivores, feeding off the liquid pollination drops and acting as pollinators for now extinct insect pollinated gymnosperms such as Bennettitales. Systematics *'' Afristella'' Riek 1974 Molteno Formation, South Africa, Carnian *'' Allochorista'' Hong 2007 Tongchuan Formation, China, Ladinian *'' Baissopsyche'' Novokshonov and Sukacheva 2001 Sharin-Gol Formation, Mongolia, Barremian, Zaza Formation, Russia, Aptian *'' Epicharmesopsyche'' Shih et al. 2013 Daohugou, China, Callovian *'' Ferghanopsyche'' Martynov 1937 Sulyukta Formation, Kyrgyzstan, Toarcian *'' Lichnomesopsyche'' Ren et al. 2009 Daohugou, China, Callovian *'' Mesopanorpodes'' Ren et al. 2009 Vokhma Formation, Russia, Changhsingian, Ashfield Shale, Australia, Anisian, Tongchuan Formation, China, Ladin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
