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. 2025 Jun;246(6):2416-2424.
doi: 10.1111/nph.70131. Epub 2025 Apr 10.

Pollination by sexual deception via pro-pheromone mimicry?

Ryan D Phillips  1   2   3 , Seeger van Kints  4   5 , Ben Ong  4 , Alyssa M Weinstein  2   4 , Rod Peakall  2   4 , Gavin R Flematti  4 , Björn Bohman  2   4   6
Affiliations

Pollination by sexual deception via pro-pheromone mimicry?

Ryan D Phillips et al. New Phytol. 2025 Jun.
No abstract available

Keywords: Ichneumonid wasp; chemical ecology; orchid; pollination; pro‐pheromone mimicry; sexual deception.

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Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Analysis of plants and pollinators. (a) Cryptostylis ovata with its pollinator Lissopimpla excelsa, (b) chemical compounds from C. ovata, (c) a dissected flower, showing the floral parts used for field trials and extracts; (a) petals and sepals, (b) column and basal portion of labellum, (c) centre of labellum and (d) tip of labellum. (d) Three‐dimensional model of C. ovata flower used for bioassays, (e–g) total ion chromatogram (TIC) with retention times (RT) for solvent extracts of C. ovata labellum tip, labellum base and abdomen extract of female of pollinator, with compounds 2 and 3 annotated (compounds 1 and 4–6 only present at trace levels, not directly visible in the TIC).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Boxplots summarising the responses of male Lissopimpla excelsa wasps to bioassays presenting choices of compounds 1–6 in different combinations and at different amounts. The left panels show responses as total counts (A + L + C) per trial (A = wasp approaches only, L = wasp approach then landing, C = attempted copulation after landing), while the right panels show responses of LC counts (L + C), deemed to represent a stronger sexual response than approaches. Outcomes of Wilcoxon tests of the null hypothesis of no difference in the count distributions between control and treatment are also shown. (a) Treatment compounds 2 + 3 vs baseline control 1 + 2 + 3, each at total amounts of 4.5 mg. (b) Treatment compounds 4 + 5 + 6 vs baseline control 1 + 2 + 3, at total amounts of 0.003 and 4.5 mg, respectively. (c) Treatment compounds 1 + 4 + 5 + 6 vs baseline control 1 + 2 + 3, at total amounts of 0.004 mg and 4.5 mg, respectively. Median and quartiles shown in the boxplots were calculated over replicate experiments on consecutive days.
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