Evidence for the recruitment of florivorous plant bugs as pollinators

Author(s)
Florian Etl, Christian Kaiser, Oliver Reiser, Mario Schubert, Stefan Dötterl, Jürg Schönenberger
Abstract

Angiosperm flowers and their animal visitors have co-evolved for at least 140 Ma, and early flowers were likely used mainly as mating and feeding sites by several groups of insects, including beetles, flies, true bugs, and thrips. Earlier studies suggested that shifts from such neutral or antagonistic relationships toward mutualistic pollination interactions between flowers and insects occurred repeatedly during angiosperm evolution. However, the evolutionary mechanisms and adaptations, which accompanied shifts toward effective pollination, are barely understood, and evidence for such scenarios has been lacking. Here, we show that Syngonium hastiferum (Araceae), a Neotropical representative of an otherwise beetle-pollinated clade, is pollinated by plant bugs (Miridae; Heteroptera), which are florivores of Syngonium schottianum and other Araceae species. We found that S. hastiferum differs in several floral traits from its beetle-pollinated relatives. Scent emission and thermogenesis occur in the morning instead of the evening hours, and its pollen surface is spiny instead of smooth. Furthermore, the floral scent of S. hastiferum includes a previously unknown natural product, (Z)-3-isopropylpent-3-en-1-ol, which we show to have a function in specifically attracting the plant bug pollinators. This is the first known case of a specialized plant bug pollination system and provides clear evidence for the hypothesis that the adoption of antagonistic florivores as pollinators can drive flower diversification. Video abstract: [Figure presented]

Organisation(s)
Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
External organisation(s)
Universität Regensburg (UR), Paris-Lodron Universität Salzburg
Journal
Current Biology
Volume
32
Pages
4688-4698.E6
ISSN
0960-9822
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.09.013
Publication date
11-2022
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
106008 Botany, 106012 Evolutionary research, 106042 Systematic botany
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all), Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all), Neuroscience(all)
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/evidence-for-the-recruitment-of-florivorous-plant-bugs-as-pollinators(ac94b709-0df1-4719-8743-b0f56d31ccab).html