Perfect fit? - A glossophagine bat (Anoura geoffroyi, Phyllostomidae) visiting B
Keywords
Burmeistera sodiroana, bat pollination, ecology, glossophagine bat, Anoura geoffroyi
Description
Burmeistera sodiroana, bat pollination, ecology, glossophagine bat, Anoura geoffroyi
A glossophagine bat (Anoura geoffroyi, Phyllostomidae) visiting Burmeistera
sodiroana (Campanulaceae) in a flight cage set up in the Bellavista Cloud
Forest Reserve, Pichincha Province, Ecuador. The flower morphology fits the
bat's head closely, allowing precise and consistent pollen placement on the
crown (note the spot of pollen from a previous visit). The well-exposed flowers
of this species and eight other Ecuadorian species of Burmeistera are
dull-colored and emit strong odors and were found to be highly specialized for
bat pollination; although bats and hummingbirds visited their flowers, only
bats effectively transferred pollen. Flowers of a tenth species, B. rubrosepala,
are bright red and yellow with narrow corolla apertures and no odor and were
exclusively hummingbird pollinated.