Diurnal activity of the key pollinators of Heracleum sphondylium L. (Apiaceae)

Marcin Zych
2012 Acta Agrobotanica  
Although umbels of common hogweed (<i>Heracleum sphondylium</i>) are visited by numerous insect species, only about 2-3 taxa pollinate its flowers. This paper presents two-seasonal observations of diurnal activity of the major insect visitors to inflorescences of <i>H. sphondylium</i> and its key pollinators. The results obtained for two <i>H. sphondylium</i> subspecies occurring naturally in Poland show that insect activity is the highest in the first part of the day and decreases towards the
more » ... vening. This is mainly implicated by the behavior of dipterans, which intensively feed on hogweed flowers. Other insect orders (Coleoptera, Hymenoptera), but also the dipteran key pollinators (<i>Eriozona syrphoides</i> and <i>Lucilia</i> spp.) do not express any statistically significant preferences for any part of the day.
doi:10.5586/aa.2006.029 fatcat:7cwx2lzcirenvggmyxbwybhxbe