Overview of Pterostylis Pollination (Orchidaceae) in Victoria
Abstract and Figures
Members of the large terrestrial orchid-genus Pterostylis, collectively known as greenhoods and rustyhoods, attracted only insects of the order Diptera, the flies, as their principal or primary vectors. With few exceptions, the pollinator species were part of the superfamily Sciaroidea: infraorder Bibionomorpha: families: Mycetophilidae and Sciaridae, that are commonly known as fungus-gnats and dark-winged fungus-gnats respectively.
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... Many Pterostylis species are restricted to a single vector species, but within the Pterostylis clades, a number of different species share the same vector species, whilst in other clades they may share members of a particular vector genus. Based on observations of fungus-gnat wing-venations, all members of the rustyhood-clade attract species of fungusgnat from the genus Orfelia of the large Mycetophilidae assembly, subfamily Keroplatinae: clade Orfeliini, (Kuiter and Findlater-Smith 2017). Mycomya sp. 2 (Kuiter 2016), also a member of Mycetophilidae, is a vector shared in Victoria by five Pterostylis species: P. acuminata, P. cucullata, P. falcata, P. nutans, and P. oreophila in single vector relationships. ...
... and it was found that the expected 1:1 relationships were limited to certain species. Sibling orchid taxa may share the exact same vector insect and some clades share members of a single vector genus (Kuiter and Findlater-Smith 2017). A complete study of all orchid pollinators of Victoria (Kuiter 2016) has shown that with sexual deception the orchid to vector species ratios can be highly variable. ...
It has been noted that populations of Pterostylis grandiflora in East Gippsland and southern
Victoria were pollinated by different fungus-gnats in the genus Mycetophila, but the populations were allopatric so it was thought that the orchids were, possibly, sub-specific (Kuiter 2016). A 2019 study of a single population of P. nana in the Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve comprised about 60 plants, with most flowering over a period of two to three weeks. Here, the pollinator, a sciarid, was found to be a different species from the vector observed on P. nana at McLoughlins Beach in East Gippsland (pers. obs., Kuiter, 15 July 2016). In this case, there was no doubt that the orchids were the same species.
... This was actually an incidental find; I was photographing the orchid and only had the fly in the shot pointed out to me much later on. Pterostylis are pollinated by flies, with most known pollinators from Mycetophilidae (see e.g., Phillips et al. 2014, Kuiter andFindlater-Smith 2017), but some other families such as Sciaridae also visit. Quite an enigmatic one. ...
Although much of suburban Sydney is heavily urbanised, there are also many pockets of remnant vegetation scattered throughout the region, even in the most built-up areas. From 2020-2022 I conducted a comprehensive biodiversity survey of Wategora Reserve, and the riparian vegetation adjacent to Everley Park directly south of the reserve, a small fragment of remnant bushland on the western bank of the Duck River in western Sydney. Spanning the suburbs of Chester Hill, South Granville and Auburn, the total survey area is ~25 ha, and contains one of the most important remaining patches of the critically endangered ecological community Cooks River/Castlereagh Ironbark Forest of the Sydney Basin. During ~380 hours of surveying, I recorded 1926 species. In this report, I present detailed maps and site information, discussions of threats and important processes in the survey area, and an annotated and illustrated checklist covering all observed species.
... The flowers are pollinated by a range of small Diptera, fungus gnats in particular (Kuiter & Findlater-Smith, 2017). In some species, sexual deception appears to be involved. ...
Pterostylis repanda, a recently‐named species from New Caledonia, is illustrated. Its distinctions from related species are discussed, and suggestions for its cultivation are given.
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