Over a year ago, I planted lantana and salvia along Pepper School Alley. They thrive with no water at all, in lots of sun. This morning, on my rounds, I noticed once again a big black winged insect, a bumblebee without the fuzz. When I stopped to observe, I saw that the nectar-lover had settled close to the base of a salvia flower's long scarlet pitcher. It hunkered down on that solid support, head toward the juncture of stem and blossom, and as I watched it produced a tube from its oral cavity, which slipped sharply through the flower tube to get right to the bottom of the nectar cup. Neat. The bee has outfoxed the angiosperm DNA, which created flowers to lure pollinators. The bee in question, if it's a bee, never comes close to the pollen.
Note that another naturalist noticed this behavior some time ago.
2 comments:
I am pleased to see that you've been exploring the complete Darwin Web site, though you initially protested that you weren't interested.
An outrageous misrepresentation!
Post a Comment