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Science 1 February 1985:
Vol. 227. no. 4686, pp. 540 - 543
DOI: 10.1126/science.227.4686.540
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Articles

The Pollination of Zygogynum (Winteraceae) by a Moth, Sabatinca (Micropterigidae): An Ancient Association?

LEONARD B. THIEN 1, PETER BERNHARDT 2, GEORGE W. GIBBS 3, OLLE PELLMYR 4, GUNNAR BERGSTRÖM 5, INGA GROTH 5, and GORDON MCPHERSON 6

1 Department of Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
2 Plant Cell Biology Research Center, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia 3052
3 Zoology Department, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
4 Department of Entomology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden S-75122
5 Department of Ecological Chemistry, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden S-40033
6 Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri 63166

The primitive and vesselless angiosperm Zygogynum (Winteraceae), which is restricted to New Caledonia, is pollinated by a moth, Sabatinca (Micropterigidae). Fossil records of both the moth and the plant families extend to the Early Cretaceous. Adult Sabatinca have grinding mandibles and usually feed on the spores of ferns and on pollen. The insects use the flowers as mating sites and eat the pollen which is immersed in a dense pollenkitt. This mode of pollination in which flowers serve as mating and feeding stations with floral odors acting as cues may have been common in the early evolution of flowering plants.

Submitted on August 13, 1984
Accepted on September 24, 1984


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Plant-pollinator interactions in New Caledonia influenced by introduced honey bees.
M. Kato and A. Kawakita (2004)
Am. J. Botany 91, 1814-1827
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)