A pyralid moth (Lepidoptera) as pollinator of blunt-leaf orchid

TitleA pyralid moth (Lepidoptera) as pollinator of blunt-leaf orchid
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1983
AuthorsVoss EG, Jr. RERiefner
JournalGreat Lakes Entomologist
Volume16
Pagination57-60
KeywordsPYRALIDAE
Abstract

As early as 1912, mosquitoes were observed bearing the pollen masses (pollinia) of the blunt-leaf orchid, Habenaria obtusata (Pursh) Richardson, in Reese’s Bog, a cedar swamp at the north end of Burt Lake, Chebogyan County, Michigan, near the campus of the University of Michigan Biological Station (Dexter 1913). A number of subsequent observers in Canada and the northern United States have reported pollinia of this orchid on mosquitoes, always females of the genus Aedes. ... We now report, as an apparent pollinator, a small moth not much larger than the orchid flower (and smaller than the geometrid species previously noted).