Flower scent of floral oil-producing Lysimachia punctata as attractant for the oil-bee Macropis fulvipes.
Most flowers offer nectar and/or pollen as a reward for pollinators. However, some plants are known to produce mostly fatty oil in the flowers, instead of nectar. This oil is exclusively collected by specialized oil-bees, the pollinators of the oil-plants. Little is known about chemical communication in this pollination system, especially how the bees find their hosts. We collected the floral and vegetative scent emitted by oil-producing Lysimachia punctata by dynamic headspace, and identified the compounds by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Thirty-six compounds were detected in the scent samples, several of which were flower-specific. Pentane extracts of flowers and floral oil were tested on Macropis fulvipes in a biotest. Flower and oil extracts attracted the bees, and some of the compounds identified are seldom found in the floral scent of other plants; these may have been responsible for the attraction of the bees.
Dötterl
Stefan
S
Department of Plant Systematics, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, 95440, Germany. stefan.doetterl@uni-bayreuth.de
Schäffler
Irmgard
I
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D001681:Biological Assay; D005260:Female; D035264:Flowers / Q000502:physiology*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D009812:Odorants; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D029623:Primulaceae / Q000502:physiology*
D010938:Plant Oils