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Pollination

Rotting smell of dead-horse arum florets

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These blooms chemically fool flies into pollinating them.

Abstract

Deceit by resource mimicry has evolved as a pollination strategy in several plant species1,2,3 and is particularly elaborate in a plant known as dead-horse arum (Helicodiceros muscivorus; Araceae: Aroideae), which may fool flies into pollinating it by emitting a smell like a dead animal — an important oviposition resource for these insects. Here we confirm that the composition of volatiles from these flowers and from a rotting carcass is strikingly similar and show that the pollinators respond in the same way to chemicals from both sources. This remarkably complex mimicry must have evolved to exploit insects as unrewarded pollinators.

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Figure 1: Olfactory mimicry by the dead-horse arum (Helicodiceros muscivorus).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 44, Alnarp, 23053, Sweden

    Marcus C. Stensmyr, Malin Celander & Bill S. Hansson

  2. Department of Experimental Biology, University of Cagliari, Monserrato, 4500, Italy

    Isabella Urru, Ignazio Collu & Anna-Maria Angioy

Authors
  1. Marcus C. Stensmyr
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  2. Isabella Urru
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  3. Ignazio Collu
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  4. Malin Celander
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  5. Bill S. Hansson
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  6. Anna-Maria Angioy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bill S. Hansson.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Stensmyr, M., Urru, I., Collu, I. et al. Rotting smell of dead-horse arum florets. Nature 420, 625–626 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/420625a

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