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  • Brief Communication
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Environmental biology

Heat reward for insect pollinators

Scarab beetles save on energy by making themselves at home inside a warm flower

Abstract

In neotropical forests, adults of many large scarab beetle species spend most of their time inside the floral chambers of heat-producing flowers, where they feed and mate throughout the night and rest during the following day, before briefly flying to another flower. Here we measure floral temperatures in Philodendron solimoesense (Araceae) in French Guiana and the respiration rates of Cyclocephala colasi beetles at floral and ambient temperatures, and show that the the beetles' extra energy requirements for activity are 2.0–4.8 times greater outside the flower than inside it. This finding indicates that heat produced by the flower constitutes an important energy reward to pollinators, allowing them to feed and mate at a fraction of the energy cost that would be required outside the flower.

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Figure 1: Warm welcome: the thermogenic flower of Philodendron solimoesense, which is found in the neotropical forests of French Guiana, offers a heated chamber as a reward to insect pollinators such as the scarab beetle Cyclocephala colasi.
Figure 2: Energetics of Cyclocephala colasi beetles in relation to the temperature of Philodendron solimoesense flowers.

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Correspondence to Roger S. Seymour.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Seymour, R., White, C. & Gibernau, M. Heat reward for insect pollinators. Nature 426, 243–244 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/426243a

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