Night beetles are secret star pollinators of this Banksia shrub
Wawrzyczek SK, Bohman B, Krauss SL, Butler IM, Flematti GR, Farnier K, Hoebee SE, Davis RA, Phillips RD.
Pollinators
If you grow banksias or walk through Australian bushland at night, the flowers you assumed were pollinated only by birds are actually running a beetle nightclub, complete with a custom-brewed melon-scented perfume to lure them in.
Researchers studying a shrub called Banksia attenuata expected birds and possums to be its main pollinators, but nighttime camera traps revealed swarms of scarab beetles were the most frequent visitors, feeding on nectar, eating pollen, and even mating on the flowers. The plant produces two rare scent chemicals not found in 22 related banksia species, and when scientists made a synthetic version of that scent, it lured the beetles straight to it in field tests. It turns out this shrub has evolved a special beetle-attracting perfume alongside its regular bird and mammal pollinators.
Key Findings
Nocturnal scarab beetles (Pachytricha minor and Phyllotocus occidentalis) were the most frequent floral visitors to Banksia attenuata, alongside honeyeaters, honey possums, and diurnal insects
Floral scent was dominated by two unusual compounds, 3,6-nonadien-1-yl acetate and 3,6-nonadien-1-ol, which were absent from 22 related Banksia species
A synthetic blend of these two compounds strongly attracted Phyllotocus occidentalis in field bioassays, and captured beetles carried pure Banksia attenuata pollen
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered that a Western Australian shrub called Banksia attenuata attracts nocturnal beetles as its most frequent pollinators using two unusual scent compounds, showing beetles play a bigger role in native plant pollination than previously realized.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Attraction of nocturnal scarab beetles by unusual floral volatiles in a Banksia (Proteaceae) with functionally diverse pollinators.
Pollination by beetles has evolved multiple times in flowering plants but with relatively few plant species adapted specifically to pollination by scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). However...
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Banksia attenuata, commonly known as the candlestick banksia, slender banksia, or biara to the Noongar people, is a species of plant in the family Proteaceae. Commonly a tree, it reaches 10 m (33 ft) high, but it is often a shrub in drier areas 0.4 to 2 m high. It has long, narrow, serrated leave...