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Insect-pollinated
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. Both the size and the density of a population are known to affect pollination and subsequent reproductive performance. Coevolution History The early spermatophytes (seed plants) were largely dependent on ... [...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 (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; birds, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves. Pollinating animals travel from plant to plant carrying pollen on their bodies in a vital interaction that allows the transfer of genetic material critical to the reproductive system of most flowering plants. Self-pollination occurs within a closed flower. Pollination often occurs within a species. When pollination occurs between species, it can produce hybrid (biology), hybrid offspring in nature and in plant breeding work. In angiosperms, after the pollen grain (gametophyte) has landed on the stigma (botany), stigma, it germinates and develops a pollen tube which grows down the style (botany), style until it reaches an ovary (botany), ovary. Its two gametes travel down ... [...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 monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are currently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 20,000 known species of bees in seven recognized Family (biology), biological families. Some speciesincluding honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless beeslive eusociality, socially in colonies while most species (>90%)including mason bees, carpenter bees, Megachile, leafcutter bees, and Halictidae, 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flowering Plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. The group was formerly called Magnoliophyta. Angiosperms are by far the most diverse group of Embryophyte, land plants with 64 Order (biology), orders, 416 Family (biology), families, approximately 13,000 known Genus, genera and 300,000 known species. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody Plant stem, stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of broad-leaved trees, shrubs and vines, and most aquatic plants. Angiosperms are distinguished from the other major seed plant clade, the gymnosperms, by having flowers, xylem consisting of vessel elements instead of tracheids, endosperm within their seeds, and fruits that completely envelop the seeds. The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from the commo ... [...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, hops, 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. 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 vertebrat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudopolycentropodidae
Pseudopolycentropodidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies known from the Mesozoic. Fossils are known from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) to the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian). 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 * '' Dualula'' Lin et al. 2019 **''Dualula kachinensis'' Lin et al. 2019 Burmese amber, mid Cretacoeus (Albian-Cenomanian) * '' Parapolycentropus'' Grimaldi and Rasnitsyn 2005 Burmese amber **''Parapolycentropus burmiticus'' Grimaldi and Rasnitsyn 2005 **''Parapolycentropus paraburmiticus'' Grimaldi and Rasnitsyn 2005 * '' Pseudopolycentropodes'' Grimaldi and Fraser 2005 **''Pseudopolycentropodes virginicus'' Grimaldi and Fraser 2005 Cow Branch Formation, Virginia, Late Triassic (Norian) * '' Pseudopolycentropus'' Handlir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalligrammatid
Kalligrammatidae, sometimes known as kalligrammatids or kalligrammatid lacewings, is a Family (biology), 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 r ... [...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 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, Peñalver and Pérez-de la Fuente in Arillo et al. 2015 ** †''Buccinatormyia gangnami'' Khramov and Nam 2019 Jinju Formation, South Korea, Albian ** †''Buccinatormyia magnifica'' Arillo, Peñalver and Pérez-de la Fuente in Arillo et al. 2015 Spanish amber, Albian ** †''Buccinatormyia soplaensis'' Arillo, Peñalver and Pérez-de la Fuente in Arillo et al. 2015 Spanish amber, Albian * †'' Burmomyia'' Zhang and Wang 2019 ** †''Burmomyia rossi'' Zhang and Wang 2019 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian * †' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse-fly
Horse flies and deer flies are true flies in the family Tabanidae in the insect order Diptera. The adults are often large and agile in flight. Only females bite land vertebrates, including humans, to 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 botflies (Oestridae) are sometimes referred to as gadflies. Adult horse flies feed on nectar and plant exudates; males have weak mouthparts, but females have mouthparts strong enough to puncture the skin of large animals. This is for the purpose of obtaining 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 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. 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. Distribution The family is small but distributed worldwide, with about 300 species in 34 genera. Nemestrinidae are most diverse in the southern hemisphere, and only six species in three genera occur in the Nearctic region. 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 = ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aneuretopsychidae
Aneuretopsychidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies known from the Mesozoic. Fossils are known from the Jurassic (Callovian- Oxfordian) to the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian). 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 of and acting as pollinators for now extinct insect pollinated gymnosperms such as Bennettitales. Systematics Diagnostic characters include the "presence of pseudo-loop in the anal area of the forewing, and the well-developed jugum of the hind wing" It has been proposed that the family are the sister group to fleas, however a detailed analysis of the mouthparts of well preserved amber specimens found that they were homologous to those found in the Pseudopolycentropodidae and dissimilar to those of fleas. *'' Aneuretopsyche'' Rasnitsyn and Kozlov 1990 **''A. minima'' Rasnitsyn and Kozlov 1990 Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Callov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
