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Insect Pollination
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 gymnosper ... [...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] |
Proboscis
A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elongated nose or snout. Etymology First attested in English in 1609 from Latin , the latinisation of the Ancient Greek (), which comes from () 'forth, forward, before' + (), 'to feed, to nourish'. The plural as derived from the Greek is , but in English the plural form ''proboscises'' occurs frequently. Invertebrates The most common usage is to refer to the tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates such as insects (e.g., moths, butterflies, and mosquitoes), worms (including Acanthocephala, proboscis worms) and gastropod molluscs. Acanthocephala The Acanthocephala or thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms are characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to pierce and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boganiidae
Boganiidae is a family of beetles, in the superfamily Cucujoidea. Members of the family are found in southern Africa, Australia and New Caledonia. Adults and larvae are pollenivorous, feeding on the pollen of cycads and flowering plants of the families Myrtaceae, Meliaceae, Cunoniaceae and Elaeocarpaceae. '' Metacucujus'' and '' Paracucujus'' act as pollinators for cycads ''Encephalartos'' and ''Macrozamia'' respectively. This association with cycads goes back to at least the Mid-Cretaceous, with an extinct form being found with preserved cycad pollen in 99 million year old Burmese amber. Subfamilies and genera *†'' Palaeoboganium'' Liu et al. 2017 Daohugou, China, Middle Jurassic (Callovian) *Subfamily Boganiinae Sen Gupta and Crowson 1966 **'' Afroboganium'' Endrödy-Younga & Crowson, 1986 Africa **'' Boganium'' Sen Gupta & Crowson, 1966 Australia **†'' Cretoboganium'' Cai and Huang 2018 Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oedemeridae
The family Oedemeridae is a cosmopolitan group of beetles commonly known as false blister beetles, though some recent authors have coined the name pollen-feeding beetles. There are some 100 genera and 1,500 species in the family, mostly associated with rotting wood as larvae, though adults are quite common on flowers. The family was erected by Pierre André Latreille in 1810. Characteristics Oedemeridae may be defined as slender, soft-bodied beetles of medium size found mostly on flowers and foliage. The head lacks a narrow neck, the antenna (biology), antennae are long and filiform, the pronotum lacks lateral edges and is much narrower than elytra, the tarsi are heteromerous with bilobed penultimate segment, the procoxal cavities are open behind and the procoxae are conical and contiguous. Natural history The larvae of most genera are xylophagous, boring tunnels in spongy, damp wood in an advanced state of decomposition; thus they have little economic importance, with the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutualism (biology)
Mutualism describes the ecological interaction between two or more species where each species has a net benefit. Mutualism is a common type of ecological interaction. Prominent examples include most vascular plants engaged in mutualistic interactions with mycorrhizae, flowering plants being pollinated by animals, vascular plants being dispersed by animals, and corals with zooxanthellae, among many others. Mutualism can be contrasted with interspecific competition, in which each species experiences ''reduced'' fitness, and exploitation, or parasitism, in which one species benefits at the expense of the other. The term ''mutualism'' was introduced by Pierre-Joseph van Beneden in his 1876 book ''Animal Parasites and Messmates'' to mean "mutual aid among species". Mutualism is often conflated with two other types of ecological phenomena: cooperation and symbiosis. Cooperation most commonly refers to increases in fitness through within-species (intraspecific) interactions, althoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cycad
Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk (botany), trunk with a crown (botany), crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters to several meters tall. They typically grow very slowly and live very long. Because of their superficial resemblance, they are sometimes mistaken for Arecaceae, palms or ferns, but they are not closely related to either group. Cycads are gymnosperms (naked-seeded), meaning their fertilization, unfertilized seeds are open to the air to be directly fertilized by pollination, as contrasted with angiosperms, which have enclosed seeds with more complex fertilization arrangements. Cycads have very specialized pollinators, usually a specific species of beetle. Both male and female cycads bear cones (strobilus, strobili), somewhat similar to conife ... [...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] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
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