Ophrys

Orchids of the Mediterranean genus Ophrys and several Australian genera, including Cryptostylis and Caladenia, have converged upon a remarkable category of deception - pseudocopulation - because their flowers use odor, visual, and tactile cues to mimic female hymenoptera (reviews Staudamire, 1983 Borg-Karlson,... 

Borg-Karlson, A.-K. (1990). Chemical and ethological studies of pollination in the genus Ophrys (Orchidaceae). Phytochemistry 29 1359-1387. 

Paulus, H. F. and Gack, C. (1990). Pollinators as prepollinating isolation factors evolution and speciation in Ophrys (Orchidaceae). Israel Journal of Botany 39 43-79. 

Hymenoptera, Apoidea) auf Inhaltsstoffe von Ophrys-Bliiten. Zoon Supplement 1 3-54. 

Schiestl, F. P, Ayasse, M., Paulus, H. F Erdmann, D. and Francke, W. (1997). Variation of floral scent emission and post-pollination changes in individual flowers of Ophrys sphegodes. Journal of Chemical Ecology 23 2881-2895. 

Schiestl, F. R, Ayasse, M., Paulus, H. D. et al. (2000). Sex pheromone mimicry in the early spider orchid (Ophrys sphegodes) patterns of hydrocarbons as the key mechanism for pollination by sexual deception. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 186 567-574. 

Ayasse M., Schiestl F. R, Paulus H. F., Lofstedt Hanson B. S., Ibarra F. and Francke W. (2000) Evolution of reproductive strategies in the sexually deceptive orchid Ophrys sphegodes how does flower-specific variation of odor signals influence reproductive success Evolution 54, 1995-2006. 

Kullenberg B. and Bergstrom L. G. (1976) The pollination of Ophrys orchids. Botaniska Notiser 129, 11-19. 

Mant, J., Brandli, C., Vereecken, N. J., Schulz, C.M., Francke, W. and Schiestl, F. P. (2005). Cuticular hydrocarbons as sex pheromone of the bee Colletes cunicularius and the key to its mimicry by the sexually deceptive orchid Ophrys exaltata. 

Borg-Karlson, A.-K. and Tengo, J. (1986). Odor mimetism Key substances in Ophrys lutea-Andrena pollination relationship (Orchidaceae Andrenidae). J. Chem. Ecol., 12, 1927-1941. 

Mant, J., Peakall, R. and Schiestl, F.P. (2005b). Does selection on floral odor promote differentiation among populations and species of the sexually deceptive orchid genus Ophrys Evolution, 59,1449-1463. 

Vela, E., Tirard, A., Renucci, M., Suehs, C.M. and Provost, E. (2007). Floral chemical signatures in the genus Ophrys L. (Orchidaceae) A preliminary test of a new tool for taxonomy and evolution. Plant Molec. Biol. Report, 25, 83-97. 

Decane is an alarm pheromone of the ant C. obscuripes866 Decanal (A95) is a pheromone component of larvae of C. pomonella (see Section 4.04.5.3.7),382 and is used by the red bug C. lectularius as an aggregation pheromone component.193 Males of a long-horned beetle, the coffee white stem borer Xylotrechus quadripes, a serious coffee pest in India, produce (S)-2-hydroxy-3-decanone (A96) as sex pheromone to attract female beetles.393 9-Oxo- (A97) and 9-hydroxydecanoic acid (A98) are the major sex pheromone components of females of the scoliid wasp Campsoscolia ciliata. Interestingly, the orchid Ophrys speculum also produces these compounds to attract males of Campsoscolia for pollination.394 ( )-4-Decanolide (A99)... 

Male adults of the scoliid wasp Campsoscolia ciliate are strongly attracted to the flowers of Ophrys speculum, and attempt to copulate with the flower labellum. The floral scent contains many volatiles, including trace amounts of (w-l)-hydroxy and (yj-l )-oxo acids, especially 9-hydroxydecanoic acid (R S 6 4) (25). These characteristic substances are the major components of the female sex pheromone in the scoliid wasp and induce copulatory... 

Table 2 Chemical compositions of extracts of virgin Andrena nigroaenea females and Ophrys sphegodes flower labellum...

Rosa spp. (rose oil) (Rosaceae), Andropogon citratus (lemon grass), A. nardus (leaf, citronella oil) (Poaceae) Ophrys sphegodes (spider orchid) (Orchidaceae) [flower]... 

Kullenberg, B. and G. Bergstrom, Hymenoptera aculeata males as pollinators of Ophrys orchids, Zool. Scr., 5, 13-23 (1976). 

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