Re: Hybrids

From: "Jay Vannini" interbnk at infovia.com.gt> on 2000.05.02 at 02:40:10(4507) Julius: Excellent observation on the VERY specific tastes of many insects! Now, if you really want to get into esoteric baits, talk to the tropical butterfly people... While wandering around my garden this morning with a cup of coffee I was tickled to see "mass" aggregations of male Eulaema sp. (cingulata?) on four or five receptive Anthurium huixtlense spadices (three mature plants). This was really quite impressive - literally standing room only for many dozens of these bumble-bee sized velvet black euglossines with shiny gold abdomens. Curiously, I also have a number of A. armeniense and A. chiapasense that are also in various stages of flowering right now, and they do not appear to attract these bees but rather, a sorta nondescript Trigona species. BTW - I have, on many occasions during the rainy season, observed some type of nocturnal, "haemophagus-looking" dipteran clearly attracted to the nectar secreted by my Anthurium andreanum 'Kansako' plants. They appear to be very engrossed in tubing up nectar when I have put a light on them. Anyhoots - neat stuff - I suppose this is one of many reasons to grow tropical plants in the tropics. Cheerio - Jay +More ----- Original Message ----- To: "Multiple recipients of list AROID-L" Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 5:42 PM Subject: Re: Hybrids > -----Original Message----- > From: Don Martinson > To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L > Date: Sunday, April 30, 2000 10:52 PM > Subject: Re: Hybrids > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Neil Carroll To All Friends, > > > >My little bit of input into this--no one has as yet touched deeply on > Mother > >Nature`s strategies for PREVENTING hybrids, this is what interests me, > > > > >... the bees were specifically > >attracted ONLY to the scent of that specific orchid! > > > >>>I've often joked with friends that the difference in smell between > the flower of my Amorphophallus konjac and Typhonium (=Sauromatum) > gutattum is like the difference between cat and dog > . In nature, parasites are often quite species specific > and it should come as no surprise that there might be differences in > preferences of the type of in which insects may lay their > eggs. Perhaps there is some type of species-specific mimicry at work > here.<<< > > Dear Don, > > EXACTLY!! See my note on the ideas about the possible pollenators of > Dracontium near the end of my note. And by the way, there in fact at least > one group of dung beetles that in fact ARE specific to different animals > excrement in the Neotropical jungle, and years ago when I was studying one > genus, Phaenus, the rarest was only trapped if I ate a large fish meal the > day before I provided the 'bait' for my trap! To obtain another species, > bait had to be 'made' by eating ripe fruit and hanging the trap high, as > these fed only on monkey dung which stayed on leaves and limbs on its way > down to the forest floor, where yet another related but different group of > beetles disposed of it! > > All collectors should collect, note and more importantly observe which > insects are attracted to the blooms of all Aroids in the wild during their > scent production period. > > Cheers, > > Julius > > -- > Don Martinson > Milwaukee, Wisconsin > Mailto:llmen@execpc.com > > > >

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.