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Lapeirousia anceps Life
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Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > Monocotyledons > Order: Asparagales
> Family: Iridaceae > Genus:
Lapeirousia
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| The long-proboscid fly (Moegistorhynchus
longirostris) pollinating a flower of Lapeirousia anceps in
late spring at Rondeberg on the Cape West Coast, South Africa. [photo
Colin Paterson-Jones ©] |
The flowers of Lapeirousia anceps have an extremely
long corolla tube and their pollinator, a fly called Moegistorhynchus
longirostris (Diptera: Nemestinidae) has a simillarly long probobscis that
enables it to probe the flower and derive nectar (Pauw et al. 2009).
Publications
- Pauw, A., Stofberg, J. and Waterman, R.J. (2009). Flies and flowers in
Darwin’s race. Evolution 63, 268–279.
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