Frequency and behavior of Melipona stingless bees and orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in relation to floral characteristics of vanilla in the Yucatán region of Mexico. [PDF]
PLoS ONEVanilla planifolia is native to the Mexican tropics. Despite its worldwide economic importance as a source of vanilla for flavoring and other uses, almost all vanilla is produced by expensive hand-pollination, and minimal documentation exists for its ...
José Javier G Quezada-Euán +3 more
doaj +3 more sources
The evolution of sexual signaling is linked to odorant receptor tuning in perfume-collecting orchid bees [PDF]
Nature Communications, 2020 Male orchid bees collect scents from the environment to attract females for mating. Here, Brand et al. combine population genomic, perfume chemistry, and functional analyses to show how divergence in odorant receptor genes may be driving reproductive ...
Philipp Brand +6 more
doaj +3 more sources
Using Ecological Niche Models and Niche Analyses to Understand Speciation Patterns: The Case of Sister Neotropical Orchid Bees [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2014 The role of past connections between the two major South American forested biomes on current species distribution has been recognized a long time ago. Climatic oscillations that further separated these biomes have promoted parapatric speciation, in which
Daniel Paiva Silva +2 more
exaly +3 more sources
Cuticular Hydrocarbons of Orchid Bees Males: Interspecific and Chemotaxonomy Variation [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2015 Recent studies have investigated the composition of compounds that cover the cuticle in social insects, but few studies have focused on solitary bees.
Fabio SANTOS DO Nascimento
exaly +3 more sources
Conservation value and permeability of neotropical oil palm landscapes for orchid bees. [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2013 The proliferation of oil palm plantations has led to dramatic changes in tropical landscapes across the globe. However, relatively little is known about the effects of oil palm expansion on biodiversity, especially in key ecosystem-service providing ...
George Livingston +3 more
doaj +2 more sources
Broad Fungal Compatibility and Seed Size May Facilitate Invasiveness in Two Asian Terrestrial Orchids Spathoglottis plicata and Arundina graminifolia [PDF]
Ecology and Evolution, Volume 16, Issue 6, June 2026.Two Asian orchids, Arundina graminifolia and Spathoglottis plicata, are expanding into tropical regions worldwide, showing invasive behavior. In this study, we investigated the factors underlying their success. Both species—as all orchids—require fungal carbon to germinate, but S.
Tomáš Figura +7 more
wiley +2 more sources
Pollination by long‐proboscid horseflies and its implications for reproductive isolation among coflowering Satyrium orchids in South Africa [PDF]
American Journal of Botany, Volume 113, Issue 6, June 2026.Abstract Premise Floral adaptations to pollinators can drive lineage diversification and promote coexistence of species. We investigated the reproductive biology of Satyrium longicolle, a South African orchid that we hypothesized to belong to a long‐proboscid horsefly pollination guild and examined overlap of pollinators and floral traits among ...
Steven D. Johnson +3 more
wiley +2 more sources
Raising the sugar content--orchid bees overcome the constraints of suction feeding through manipulation of nectar and pollen provisions. [PDF]
PLoS ONE, 2014 Unlike most other bees, the long-tongued orchid bees ingest nectar using suction feeding. Although long tongues allow exploitation of flowers with deep spurs, the energy intake rate is optimal at 10-20% lower nectar sugar concentrations compared to that ...
Tamara Pokorny, Klaus Lunau, Thomas Eltz
doaj +2 more sources
Large-Range Movements of Neotropical Orchid Bees Observed via Radio Telemetry
PLoS ONE, 2010 Neotropical orchid bees (Euglossini) are often cited as classic examples of trapline-foragers with potentially extensive foraging ranges. If long-distance movements are habitual, rare plants in widely scattered locations may benefit from euglossine ...
Martin Wikelski +2 more
exaly +3 more sources
Are body size and volatile blends honest signals in orchid bees? [PDF]
Ecology and Evolution, 2017 Jorge Contreras-Garduño +2 more
exaly +2 more sources