Butterfly-wing pollination in Scadoxus and other South African Amaryllidaceae

Abstract

Abstract Understanding the evolution of floral morphology requires information about the identity of pollinators as well as the specific mechanisms of pollen transfer. Based on preliminary field observations and floral structure, we hypothesized that pollination mechanisms involving the transfer of pollen on butterfly wings occur in several lineages of South African Amaryllidaceae. Here we report findings from a detailed study of butterfly-wing pollination in two subspecies of Scadoxus multiflorus and review the prevalence of this pollination mechanism among other Amaryllidaceae in southern Africa. We established that S. multiflorus subsp. katherinae is genetically self-incompatible and thus entirely reliant on pollinators for seed production. We determined that this subspecies is pollinated almost exclusively by large swallowtail butterflies, principally males of the mocker swallowtail Papilio dardanus cenea. Flowers of S. multiflorus subsp. multiflorus are pollinated by pierid and swallowtail butterflies. Pollen is deposited on the ventral surface of the wings of butterflies as they flutter over the strongly exserted stamens. We predict that butterfly-wing pollination occurs in at least nine species of South African Amaryllidaceae, which may reflect several independent origins of this mechanism. The flowers of these species are red or orange with strong herkogamy and are either bowl-brush or open-brush in shape. We provide maps of the distribution of pollen on the ventral surface of the wings of pollinators for four of these species. All four appear to be pollinated via the ventral surface of large butterfly wings, with the floral structure facilitating the process. These findings illustrate the importance of investigating pollen transfer mechanisms in order to understand patterns of floral diversification and floral convergence.