J Integr Plant Biol ›› 2016, Vol. 58 ›› Issue (8): 698-700.DOI: 10.1111/jipb.12460

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Are long corolla tubes in Pedicularis driven by pollinator selection?

Shuang-Quan Huang1*, Xiang-Ping Wang2 and Shi-Guo Sun1   

  • 收稿日期:2015-11-06 接受日期:2015-12-24 出版日期:2015-12-30 发布日期:2015-12-30

Are long corolla tubes in Pedicularis driven by pollinator selection?

Shuang-Quan Huang1*, Xiang-Ping Wang2 and Shi-Guo Sun1   

  1. 1School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
    2College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
  • Received:2015-11-06 Accepted:2015-12-24 Online:2015-12-30 Published:2015-12-30
  • About author:*Correspondence: E-mail: hsq@mail.ccnu.edu.cn

摘要： The evolution of long corolla tubes in Pedicularis species seems to break a classic “arms race” model between plants and pollinators. Quantifying manipulated corolla tube length and fitness in two Pedicularis species indicated that longer tubes were not more attractive to pollinators with more seeds than short tubes.

Abstract:

The evolution of long corolla tubes has been hypothesized to be driven by long-tongued pollinators. Corolla tubes in Pedicularis species can be longer than 10 cm which may function as flower stalks to increase visual attractiveness to pollinators because these species provide no nectar and are pollinated by bumblebees. The corolla tube length was manipulated (shorter or longer) in two Pedicularis species in field to examine whether longer tubes are more attractive to pollinators and produce more seeds than short tubes. Our results did not support the pollinator attraction hypothesis, leaving the evolution of long tubes in Pedicularis remains mysterious.

Key words: Bumblebees, Pedicularis, corolla tube length, floral evolution, long-tongued

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