Journal
ECOLOGY
Volume 89, Issue 9, Pages 2453-2460Publisher
ECOLOGICAL SOC AMER
DOI: 10.1890/06-2023.1
Keywords
butterfly pollination; coevolution; Dianthus carthusianorum; generalization; Inachis io L.; mechanical fit; Melanargia galathea L.; pollination efficiency; pollinator effectiveness; pollinator-mediated selection; proboscis length; specialization
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Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation [31-63562.00]
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Darwin's meticulous observations on the function of oral shape led to his famous prediction of a long-tongued pollinator, which he believed to be the evolutionary trigger for the long-spurred flowers of the Madagascar star orchid. Although tubular flowers are common, long tubes or spurs are an exception, suggesting that selection maintaining short flowers is widespread. Using the butterfly-pollinated carnation Dianthus carthusianorum and two butterfly species differing in proboscis length (Melanargia galathea and Inachis io) as model organisms, we experimentally demonstrate a reduction in pollinator efficiency with an increasing difference between proboscis length and floral tube length. Such a relationship is a prerequisite for the evolution of floral shape in response to pollinator morphology.
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