14 December, 2018

Do honeybees act as pollen thieves or pollinators of Datura wrightii?


by Andrew C. McCall, Sarah Richman, Eric Thomson, Monica Edgerton, Skyler Jordan, and Judith L. Bronstein


Honeybee foragers visiting a newly-opened Datura
Most plants flower during the day, but some flower at night.  One such plant is Datura wrightii, sometimes known as moonflower or Sacred Datura.  These plants typically produce many flowers, but each individual flower opens at dusk and typically whithers away early the next day.  Researchers have found that the main pollinator for D. wrightii are hawk moths (Family: Sphingidae), which is not surprising given that moths are night-active. 


Read the whole summary in: English!
Read the scientific publication in JPE.