03-11-2015, 01:32 PM
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Join Date: May 2005
Zone: 7b
Location: Queens, NY, & Madison County NC, US
Age: 44
Posts: 19,374
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Quote:
Originally Posted by euplusia
Definitely Ophrys (eyebrow). I'd say holoserica (bumblebee), if it were in my country, but there are numerous sometimes similar species around the Mediterranean.
At the middle to the end of May I've been on meadows with hundreds of these orchids, and no flower looks like the other one. They are among the first orchids to flower in spring.
The reason is that male bumblebees hatch a few days before the female. In general Ophys orchids imitate female insects (bees, spiders, bumblebees).
They are deceiving the unexperienced young males, offering the exact look, touch and smell of a female. The deception is perfect. The male bumblebees are trying to mate with the ophrys flowers, they really get crazy on the flowers, and so they pollinate.
When the females have hatched, the pollination job must be done.
Perhaps for this reason they called it the happy orchid.
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Hi,
The term for this is Pseudocopulation.
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