Time for orchids at summer camp – part two. My little Cattleya Dahlenburg Mini had a curious visitor yesterday while hanging outside soaking up some rays. The tiny hoverfly crawled into the flower many times before he decided that the back the flower was where all the action was. He sat there for a long time and his body was, ehm, undulating strangely. Hey, what can I say? I call ‘em like I see ‘em… Obviously a pollinator with some serious navigational issues… but then again, it probably was the first Cattleya this little guy had ever seen as it is not a common occurrence in Swedish gardens after all.
Here’s a nice post on pseudocopulation and orchids written by an evolutionary biologist.
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/pseudocopulation-in-orchids/
Hey thanks for the link Tony! I loved it. Nice blog, amazing photos and the Attenborough movie was priceless.