Interactions between the climber Thunbergia grandiflora, its pollinator Xylocopa latipes and the ant Dolichoderus thoracicus: the "nectar-thief hypothesis" refuted?
1996
Fiala, Brigitte (Zoologie III, Biozentrum, Am Hubland, Wurzburg (Germany)) | Krebs, S. Antonia | Barlow, H.S. | Maschwitz, U.
The woody climber Thunbergia grandiflora (Acanthaceae) attracts ants with extrafloral nectaries on flower buds and reduced calyces. In addition, the plant provides nectar for pollinating bees inside the flowers. In our study area in Malaysia the extranuptial nectaries were mainly visited by Dolichoderus thoracicus, which was very abundant on the plant both by day and by night. Exclusion experiments demonstrated that ants protect the buds of the plants against an infestation by the pyralid Filodes fulvidorsalis. On ant-free inflorescences the moths oviposit on the buds where the caterpillars develop on the bud tissue, thus destroying the buds completely and preventing any flowering of the panicles. No damage occured on buds where ants were present. Our studies did not support a theory from the literature ('nectar-thief protection hypothesis') which claims that ants protect the flowers against lateral perforation by nectar-robbing carpenter bees
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