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Are the floral morphology and anatomy of Galphimia australis, an atypical neotropical Malpighiaceae, associated to a new pollination syndrome?

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Abstract

The flowers of the species of Malpighiaceae in the Neotropical Region are relatively uniform in their morphology due to their dependence on oil-collecting bees as their main pollinators. However, many species of the genus Galphimia seem to have acquired a different floral syndrome, lacking markedly zygomorphic flowers and developed elaiophores in the calyx. Likewise, these species present anthers with great development, probably in response to the selection of pollinators that collect pollen. Galphimia australis incorporated some of these traits but also retained some residual characteristics typical of species pollinated by oil bees. This leads to many questions on how these flowers ensure their pollination. Inquiring about the reduction or modification of these characteristics allows us to understand how G. australis achieves a different pollination syndrome. In this research, we carry out a detailed morphological and anatomical study of the flowers and pollen grain devolvement of G. australis and floral visitors were observed and captured. Results were analyzed in order to determine how this species changed from the oil-floral syndrome, typical of neotropical Malpighiaceae, to one syndrome with pollen as the main reward.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Zarvlasky for technical assistance; A. Roig-Alsina for helping with the determination of some bees; two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments, and the Administración de Parque Nacionales (Project NEA 294), and the Ministerio de Ecología y Recursos Naturales Renovables, province of Misiones, (Project “Estudio integral de interacciones entre especies de Malpighiaceae y sus polinizadores”), for permission to conduct part of this study in protected areas.

Funding

This work was funded by a research grant from Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, grant number PICT 2013–1867 to S. Aliscioni, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, grant number PIP 11220110100312 to J.P. Torretta and Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBACyT 20020130200203BA and 20020170200252BA to J.P. Torretta. M. M. Gotelli, S. S. Aliscioni and J. P. Torretta are affiliated with Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, and Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This study was performed with permission of the Administración de Parque Nacionales (Regional NEA), and the Ministerio de Ecología y Recursos Naturales Renovables, province of Misiones.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Agronomía, Cátedra de Botánica General, Av. San Martín 4453, C1417DSE, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. Gotelli, S. Aliscioni, P. T. Kuo & J. P. Torretta

  2. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas Y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. Gotelli, S. Aliscioni & J. P. Torretta

  3. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion (IBODA), Casilla de Correo 22, B1642HYD, San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    S. Aliscioni

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  1. M. Gotelli
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Contributions

MG, SA and JPT contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by JPT. Morphological observations were made by PTK and SA. Flowers were processed for microscope observations and analyzed by SA, PTK and MG. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MG, SA and JPT; all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to M. Gotelli.

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Gotelli, M., Aliscioni, S., Kuo, P.T. et al. Are the floral morphology and anatomy of Galphimia australis, an atypical neotropical Malpighiaceae, associated to a new pollination syndrome?. Protoplasma 260, 1047–1062 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-022-01829-z

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