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Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

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Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#41

Post by ggus »

rob74 wrote: post #34
Diogenesian wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, the whole point of bees as insect pollinators (reflecting that they are recent evolutionary line) is that they are by a healthy margin the most intelligent arthropod. They will inspect then successfully pollinate anything floral over a wide geographic range. Most insect pollinators are instinctually tied to certain species/families.

You mean honeybees? Because there are lots of other (wild) bee species that are very specialized. And they also contradict most of the other things we think we know about bees: they are usually solitary, and they rarely sting (honeybees only do that to protect the hive). Maybe it's the other way around: humans selected honeybees to "domesticate" because of their versatility (and of course the fact that they produced…

Around my location (southern brazil) there are hundreds of species of stingless bees, living in colonies. Many (most?) produce honey too. I don't dispute that there are also lots of solitary bees. Bees are wonderful and way more diverse than people usually think.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#42

Post by barrenko »

rob74 wrote: post #26
chabes wrote: post #2

A lot of plants aren’t pollinated by bees. There’s pollinator wasps, flies, moths, butterflies… even birds and bats are pollinators

One of those moths is this guy, who (in flight, not so much in still images) looks and sounds like a miniature hummingbird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk-moth

Very common around my mom's house.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#44

Post by cmrdporcupine »

chabes wrote: post #2

A lot of plants aren’t pollinated by bees. There’s pollinator wasps, flies, moths, butterflies… even birds and bats are pollinators

My pawpaws (Asimina triloba) mainly need (house) flies to pollinate. They make their flowers look like meat.

I have a couple 100 foot rows of them, it's tricky to get good pollination.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#45

Post by lanstin »

ggus wrote: post #41
rob74 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean honeybees? Because there are lots of other (wild) bee species that are very specialized. And they also contradict most of the other things we think we know about bees: they are usually solitary, and they rarely sting (honeybees only do that to protect the hive). Maybe it's the other way around: humans selected honeybees to "domesticate" because of their versatility (and of course the fact that they produced…

Around my location (southern brazil) there are hundreds of species of stingless bees, living in colonies. Many (most?) produce honey too. I don't dispute that there are also lots of solitary bees. Bees are wonderful and way more diverse than people usually think.

As is so often the case with biology on earth.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#46

Post by adm4 »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #44
chabes wrote: post #2

A lot of plants aren’t pollinated by bees. There’s pollinator wasps, flies, moths, butterflies… even birds and bats are pollinators

My pawpaws (Asimina triloba) mainly need (house) flies to pollinate. They make their flowers look like meat. I have a couple 100 foot rows of them, it's tricky to get good pollination.

the little beetle that could, and pawpaw's are self-incompatible. -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba#Pollination

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#47

Post by datakan »

Diogenesian wrote: post #23
datakan wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jumping spiders are smarter

Are they? They are smarter than web-spinning spiders but I've never read anything suggesting they are smarter than bees. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3357

Obviously you can't give them an IQ test but all the data I've seen (and I am no expert here) shows they are possible the smartest arthropod out there. There are of course different species of jumping spider so mileage may vary.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#48

Post by vidarh »

tmoertel wrote: post #20

Mountain mints are also pollinated by beetles—and a bazillion other critters. They are extraordinary pollinator magnets. Beetles, bees, flies, wasps, mosquitos (!), moths, butterflies, ... A recent study of just a few mountain mint species ( https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2024.2411072 ) found that they attracted a crazy variety of pollinators. Check the supplementary materials for the full list.

I have spearmint in my garden, and the bees and butterflies are literally pushing each other out of the way to get at them some days.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#49

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

broeng wrote: post #25
chabes wrote: post #2

A lot of plants aren’t pollinated by bees. There’s pollinator wasps, flies, moths, butterflies… even birds and bats are pollinators

And olive trees have genders, with the male pollinating the surrounding females.

That's pretty common in plants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioecy

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#50

Post by adm4 »

baxtr wrote: post #39
mvidal01 wrote: post #32

Some insects gather nectar from a flower and don't pollinate the flower. This is called nectar robbing. See https://www.backyardecology.net/not-all-flower-visitors-are-...

What’s the best security control against this robbery?!

great idea... How do you make sure there is an exchange.
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