Abstract
The large brown, round, strongly scented seeds of Ceratocaryum argenteum (Restionaceae) emit many volatiles found to be present in herbivore dung. These seeds attract dung beetles that roll and bury them. As the seeds are hard and offer no reward to the dung beetles, this is a remarkable example of deception in plant seed dispersal.
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Acknowledgements
We thank T. Hoekstra of CapeNature for permission to work in Potberg and H.P. Linder, W.J. Bond, B. Anderson, S.-L. Steenhuisen, N. Hobbhahn, M. Cramer and J. Hoffman for comments on the manuscript. P. Muller provided assistance with photographs and SEM. We thank the NRF for funding.
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J.J.M. initiated the study and together with J.D.M.W. and G.N.B. did the field work. S.D.J. did the scent and statistical analysis. All four contributed to manuscript writing.
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Midgley, J., White, J., Johnson, S. et al. Faecal mimicry by seeds ensures dispersal by dung beetles. Nature Plants 1, 15141 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.141
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.141
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