Settling moths as potential pollinators of Uncaria rhynchophylla (Rubiaceae)

Abstract

Abstract. Nocturnal pollinators such as moths have received less attention than diurnal insects. To elucidate whether nocturnal moths are important pollinators, we observed both the diurnal and nocturnal visitors to the fl owers of Uncaria rhynchophylla (Rubiaceae) in a warm-temperate forest in central Japan. The diurnal visitors included various taxonomic groups (e.g., bees, hoverfl ies and butterfl ies). The nocturnal visitors were exclusively moths (Geometridae, Erebidae, Noctuidae and Crambidae). Pollen grains of U. rhynchophylla were attached to both diurnal and nocturnal visitors. Although diurnal fl ower visitors carried pollen grains of other plant species, nocturnal moths did not carry heterospecifi c pollen grains. These results suggest that nocturnal moths, as well as diurnal insects, are important pollinators of U. rhynchophylla.

Plant-pollinator interactions in East Asia: a review

“…Settling moth pollination has been reported for flowers of species of Apocynaceae (e.g., Hoya (Mochizuki et al 2017), Marsdenia (Sakagami et al 2019), and Vincetoxicum (Yamashiro et al 2008;Nakahama et al 2013)), Campanulaceae (e.g., Adenophora Funamoto & Ohashi 2017;Funamoto 2019)), Caprifoliaceae (e.g., Lonicera (Xuan et al 2015)), Lecythidaceae (e.g., Barringtonia )), Orchidaceae (e.g., Platanthera (Inoue 1983; and Habenaria (Xiong et al 2019)), Thymelaeaceae (e.g., Aquilaria (Chen et al 2016), Diplomorpha (Fig. 1G; Okamoto et al 2008), and Stellera (Zhang et al 2011b)), and Rubiaceae (e.g., Uncaria (Funamoto & Sugiura 2016)). Several species of pyralid and crambid moths visit flowers of Balanophora species, and these moths oviposit their eggs on the flowers, after which the larvae of the moths consume the floral tissues (Kawakita & Kato 2002).…”

Relative importance of diurnal and nocturnal pollinators for reproduction in the early spring flowering shrub Stachyurus praecox (Stachyuraceae)

“…Visitors to the S. praecox flowers were randomly sampled using an insect net, and the proboscis lengths of the flower visitors were measured to the nearest 0.1 mm, with the aid of a slide caliper or with an ocular micrometer, under a stereomicroscope in the laboratory. The number of pollen grains of S. praecox on each flower visitor was counted using a stereomicroscope and categorized as 0, 1–10, 11–100 and > 100, in accordance with previous investigations (Funamoto & Sugiura, 2016). Fisher's exact test was used to make comparisons between the diurnal flower visitors and the nocturnal settling moths (all collected from the female flowers) regarding the proportions of insects with S. praecox pollen grains.…”

Which moths might be pollinators? Approaches in the search for the flower‐visiting needles in the Lepidopteran haystack

“…generalists (Devoto et al, 2011;Macgregor et al, 2019) and could be complimentary to diurnal pollinators (Oliveira et al 2004, Devoto et al 2011, Willmer 2011). In addition, moths might be more effective than diurnal pollinators (Miyake & Yahara 1998, Groman & Pellmyr 1999, Funamoto & Sugiura 2016) despite lower visitation rates and make a considerable contribution to large scale outcrossing as they potentially move pollen longer distances than diurnal pollinators (Herrera 1987, Miyake & Yahara 1998, Young 2002. While a substantial number of individuals or species might carry high pollen loads, most pollen movement is dominated by a small subset of species (Devoto et al 2011, Banza et al 2015, Macgregor et al 2017.…”

“…and two species of evening primrose (Oenothera spp.). This approach is widely used (Oliveira et al 2004, Huber et al 2005, Makholela & Manning 2006, Atwater 2013, Benning 2015, Funamoto & Sugiura 2016, Peter & Venter 2017, and many of these studies reported new relationships between flower-visiting moths and plant species. We have employed this approach This article is protected by copyright.…”

“…While this method is time consuming, it provides conclusive evidence of moth visitation of flowers with more focused effort than Approach 2, but at a potential cost to breadth. The use of syndromes based on floral scent chemistry has been an active area of research (Knudsen & Tollsten, 1993); however, moths do not only visit sweet smelling, night opening flowers (e.g., Ord 1899, Peter & Venter 2017 and any plant that produces a source of nectar is worth observing (Nielsen & Neilsen, 1981;Benning, 2015;Funamoto & Sugiura, 2016;Macgregor et al, 2019). Although observing plants that provide a nectar reward provides a starting point for using this approach, there are numerous examples of moths responsible for transporting pollen from plant species with unrewarding flowers (Macgregor et al, 2019).…”