title: Mimicking Livor Mortis: a Well-Known but Unsubstantiated Color Profile in Sapromyiophily.
abstract: By emitting strong scents resembling rotting organic materials suitable for oviposition and/or foraging of flies, sapromyiophilous flowers mimic the substrates that attract flies as pollinators. It has been suggested that the wide range of volatile organic compounds emitted by this deceptive pollination system reflects the trophic preferences of flies to different types of substrate, including herbivore and carnivore feces, carrion, and fruiting bodies of fungi. Previous studies suggest that floral scents play a particularly important role in sapromyiophily. However, few studies on the relative importance of floral color or synergy between visual and olfactory cues in sapromyiophily have been substantiated. In this study, we analyzed fetid floral odor, floral pigment composition, and reflectance of an Amorphophallus konjac C. Koch inflorescence, and we conducted bioassays with different visual and/or olfactory cues to explore an unsubstantiated color profile in sapromyiophily: mimicking livor mortis. Our analysis showed A. konjac can emit oligosulphide-dominated volatile blends similar to those emitted by carrion. Necrophagous flies cannot discriminate between the color of an inflorescence, livor mortis, and floral pigments. We concluded that mimicking livor mortis may represent a common tactic of pollinator attraction in "carrion flower" systems within angiosperms.
authors: Kunming Botanical Garden, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650204, Yunnan, China.
authors: Gao
authors: G
authors: Chen
authors: State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
authors: Xiao-Kai
authors: XK
authors: Ma
authors: School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, P. Bag X01 Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, 3209, South Africa.
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Jürgens
authors: Institute of Konjac, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuyuan, 655500, Yunan, China.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Lu
authors: Institute of Konjac, Enshi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Enshi, 445000, Hubei, China.
authors: Er-Xi
authors: EX
authors: Liu
authors: Kunming Botanical Garden, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650204, Yunnan, China. wbsun@mail.kib.ac.cn.
authors: Wei-Bang
authors: WB
authors: Sun
authors: State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China, 650204. xhcai@mail.kib.ac.cn.
authors: Xiang-Hai
authors: XH
authors: Cai
mesh_terms: D031056:Amorphophallus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D004175:Diptera / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000032:analysis*; D054817:Pollination; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010860:Pigments, Biological; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
keywords: Amorphophallus; Deceit pollination; Livor mortis; Pigments; Sapromyophily; Spectral reflectance