''Erysimum baeticum'' is an annual to perennial herb endemic to some mountains in the SE of Spain. This species has two subspecies: ''Erysimum baeticum bastetanum'' is found only in the

Sierra de Baza Sierra de Baza is a mountain range near the city of Baza in the Granada province in Spain. It is named after the town of Baza and its highest point is the 2,269 m high Calar de Santa Bárbara. It is located between the Sierra Nevada and the Sier ...

(

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

province), inhabiting the subalpine pine forests, from 1500 to 2000 m. a.s.l.. ''Erysimum baeticum baeticum'' is a subspecies endemic to the eastern range of the Sierra Nevada (

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

province), inhabiting subalpine shrublands. Both subspecies flower during late May thru early July, displaying up to one hundred showy purple flowers arranged in several short stalks.

Life cycle

Plants germinates during early spring (March to early May), and usually grow for 2–3 years as vegetative rosettes. Much mortality occurs at this stage due to summer drought. Surviving individuals flower during their second year. ''Erysimum baeticum bastetanum'' is monocarpic, most individuals dying after flowering. ''Erysimum baeticum baeticum'' is mostly polycarpic, since an important proportion of individuals reproduce more than once.

Morphology

Reproductive plants produce one to eight reproductive stalks. Each flowering stalk can display between 5 and more than one hundred bright purple, hermaphroditic, slightly protandrous flowers arranged in corimbous inflorescences. Flowering stalks are tall (circa 1 m tall) in ''E. baeticum bastetatum'', and very short (around 20 cm tall) in ''Erysimum baeticum baeticum''. Flowers produce minute amount of nectar in four nectaries. Flower shape is extremely variable, ranging from radially to bilaterally symmetric even in the same population.

Pollination biology

Information of pollination biology exists only for ''Erysimum baeticum baeticum''. Flowers are visited by over 50 species of insects belonging to the order

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

and

Heteroptera The Heteroptera are a group of about 40,000 species of insects in the order Hemiptera. They are sometimes called "true bugs", though that name more commonly refers to the Hemiptera as a whole. "Typical bugs" might be used as a more unequivocal al ...

. Abundant pollinators are the beetles '' Melighetes maurus'' (

Nitidulidae The sap beetles, also known as Nitidulidae, are a family (biology), family of beetles. They are small (2–6 mm) ovoid, usually dull-coloured beetles, with knobbed antenna (biology), antennae. Some have red or yellow spots or bands. They fe ...

), ''

Dasytes ''Dasytes'' is a genus of beetles in the family Melyridae. ''D. plumbeus'' is a very common beetle on flowers in Germany, where it feeds on pollen. It is about 3 to 5 mm long. European species * '' D. aeneiventris'' * '' D. aequalis'' * ' ...

subaeneus'' (

Dasytidae Dasytinae is a subfamily of soft-wing flower beetles, beetles of the family Melyridae, historically sometimes treated as a separate family, "Dasytidae". Description and distribution Dasytinae are typically small (<8 mm) and parallel-sided ...

), and ''

Malachius ''Malachius'' is a genus of soft-winged flower beetles belonging to the family Melyridae subfamily Malachiinae. ''Malachius'' species have been reported from Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spai ...

laticollis'' ( Malachidae), the solitary bees ''

Anthophora The bee genus ''Anthophora'' is one of the largest in the family Apidae, with over 450 species worldwide in 14 different subgenera. They are most abundant and diverse in the Holarctic and African biogeographic regions. All species are solitary, t ...

leucophaea'' (

Anthophoridae Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for ...

) and ''

Colletes The genus ''Colletes'' (plasterer bees) is a large group of ground-nesting bees of the family Colletidae. They occur primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. They tend to be solitary, but sometimes nest close together in aggregations. Species ...

'' sp (

Colletidae The Colletidae are a family of bees, and are often referred to collectively as plasterer bees or polyester bees, due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry int ...

), and the ants ''

Proformica ''Proformica'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus is known from the Palearctic realm, from Mongolia through Central Asia to Spain. Colonies are small, generally containing a few hundred individuals, with a single queen ( ...

longiseta'', ''

Lasius niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesCataglyphis ''Cataglyphis'' is a genus of ant, desert ants, in the subfamily Formicinae. Its most famous species is ''C. bicolor'', the Sahara Desert ant, which runs on hot sand to find insects that died of heat exhaustion, and can, like other several oth ...

velox'' ( Formicidae). However, ants can act both as true pollinators and as nectar robbers.

Herbivory

In southeastern Spain, reproductive individuals are consumed by many different species of herbivores, although more information is required. Some floral buds do not open because they are galled by flies (''Dasineura'' sp., Cecidomidae). Several species of sap-suckers (primarily the bugs '' Eurydema oleraceae'', ''E. fieberi'', ''E. ornata'', and '' Corimeris denticulatus'') feed on the reproductive stalks during flowering and fruiting. In addition, stalks are bored into by a weevil species (presumably ''

Lixus Lixus may refer to: * ''lixus'', the Latin word for "boiled" * Lixus (ancient city) in Morocco * ''Lixus (beetle)'', a genus of true weevils * Lixus, one of the sons of Aegyptus In Greek mythology, Aegyptus or Ægyptus (; grc, Αἴγυπτος) ...

ochraceus'',

Curculionidae The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal families, with 6,800 genera and 83,000 species described worldwide. They are the sister group to the family Brentidae. T ...

), which consumes the inner tissues, whereas another weevil species ( presumably ''Ceutorhynchus'',

) develops inside the fruits, living on developing seeds and acting as predispersal seed predators. The stalks are browsed by Spanish ibex (''

Capra pyrenaica The Iberian ibex (''Capra pyrenaica''), also known as the Spanish ibex, Spanish wild goat, or Iberian wild goat, is a species of ibex endemic to the Iberian Peninsula. Four subspecies have been described; two are now extinct. The Portuguese su ...

'',

Bovidae The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, bison, buffalo, antelopes, and caprines. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, ...

), which consume flowers and mostly green fruits. Dispersed seeds are consumed by woodmice (''

Apodemus sylvaticus The wood mouse (''Apodemus sylvaticus'') is a murid rodent native to Europe and northwestern Africa. It is closely related to the yellow-necked mouse (''Apodemus flavicollis'') but differs in that it has no band of yellow fur around the neck, h ...

'',

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae come ...

), several species of birds (''

Fringilla coelebs The common chaffinch or simply the chaffinch (''Fringilla coelebs'') is a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family. The male is brightly coloured with a blue-grey cap and rust-red underparts. The female is more subdued in ...

'', '' Serinus serinus'', and ''

Carduelis The genus ''Carduelis'' is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae. The genus ''Carduelis'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 by tautonomy based on Carl Linnaeus's specific epithet for the Europe ...

cannabina''

Fringillidae The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...

, among others), several species of medium-sized

granivorous Seed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of plants as a main or exclusive food source,Hulme, P.E. and Benkman, C.W. (2002) "Granivory", pp. 132 ...

beetles ('' Iberozabrus'' sp.

Carabidae Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it is one of the 10 most species-rich animal fami ...

, among others), and ants (''

Lasius niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesTetramorium ''Tetramorium'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae that includes more than 520 species. These ants are also known as pavement ants. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Tetramorium'' was first described by Gustav Mayr in 1855 in the same publi ...

caespitum'', ''

Cataglyphis ''Cataglyphis'' is a genus of ant, desert ants, in the subfamily Formicinae. Its most famous species is ''C. bicolor'', the Sahara Desert ant, which runs on hot sand to find insects that died of heat exhaustion, and can, like other several oth ...

velox'' and ''

Leptothorax ''Leptothorax'' is a genus of small ants with mainly Holarctic distributions. The genus is notable for its widespread social parasitism, i.e. they are dependent on the help of workers from other ant species during a part or the whole of their lif ...

tristis''). These animals feed on the seeds from late August to early April. Seedlings and juveniles are sometime injured by ibex, sheep, wild boars (''

Sus scrofa The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...

'',

Suidae Suidae is a family of artiodactyl mammals which are commonly called pigs, hogs or swine. In addition to numerous fossil species, 18 extant species are currently recognized (or 19 counting domestic pigs and wild boars separately), classified into ...

), hares (''

Lepus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The gen ...

granatense'',

Leporidae Leporidae is the family of rabbits and hares, containing over 60 species of extant mammals in all. The Latin word ''Leporidae'' means "those that resemble ''lepus''" (hare). Together with the pikas, the Leporidae constitute the mammalian order ...

), and voles ('' Pitimys'' spp., Arvicolidae), although most seedlings die due to summer drought and seed quality.

References

External links

evoflor
a web page on Erysimum floral evolution
Flora Ibérica
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5396343 baeticum Flora of Spain