title: The floral scents of Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis (Nymphaeaceae), the New World night-blooming water lilies, and their relation with putative pollinators.
abstract: Night-blooming water lilies are characterized by intense emission of floral VOCs. Their unique scent-oriented pollinators, cyclocephaline scarabs (Scarabaeidae, Cyclocephalini), are attracted to flowers that they use as reliable sources of food and as mating aggregation sites. Chemical analysis of floral scent samples of seven species of Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis established remarkably simple fragrant blends, each of which was dominated by one or two prominent compounds that alone accounted for over 95% of total scent emission. A total of 22 VOCs were identified: aliphatics (9), C5-branched chain compounds (5) and aromatics (8). Anisole was the dominant constituent in the floral scents of Nymphaea amazonum subsp. amazonum, N. amazonum subsp. pedersenii and N. tenerinervia, whereas (methoxymethyl)benzene was the most abundant VOC in samples of N. lasiophylla and N. lingulata. Flowers of N. rudgeana and N. gardneriana emitted high amounts of methyl hexanoate and methyl 2-methylbutanoate. Comparisons of floral VOC composition including other day- and night-blooming species of Nymphaea and Victoria obtained from the literature evidenced disparities related to habitus. While flowers of day-blooming species mostly emit aromatic alcohols and ethers, nocturnal species are particularly rich in aromatic ethers, aliphatic esters and C5-branched chain esters. These findings strongly suggest that the floral scent composition within closely related Nymphaea and Victoria is linked to pollinator selection, and the putative role of floral VOCs in pollinator attractiveness is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Fundamental, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50740-560, Brazil. Electronic address: artur_campos_maia@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Artur Campos Dália
authors.initials: ACD
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-graduação em Botânica, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana 44031-460, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carla Teixeira
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: de Lima
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Fundamental, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50740-560, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniela Maria do Amaral Ferraz
authors.initials: DMDAF
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14 A-1030, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chartier
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-graduação em Botânica, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana 44031-460, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Giulietti
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50372-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Isabel Cristina
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Machado
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry*; D030721:Nymphaea / Q000737:chemistry*; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis; D010675:Pheromones / Q000737:chemistry; D054817:Pollination / Q000502:physiology*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
keywords: Cantharophily; Neotropics; Nocturnal anthesis; Nymphaea subg. Hydrocallis; Nymphaeaceae; Volatile organic compounds (VOCs); Water lily