[Syrphidae] Re: males & pollen

[w.v.steenis at casema.nl]

Dear all, 

 

In the Zweefvliegennieuwsbrief 1 2005 Wilfried H.O. Ernst published (in
Dutch) results of a short research on pollen in the gut of male Syrphus
ribesii over the season. He did estimate the nutrient content of the pollen
in the guts. He did not discuss the reason the males need pollen. However,
it might be interesting to read since there is so little published on pollen
in Syrphidae guts. 

 

Best wishes,

 

Wouter

 

Van: syrphidae-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
<syrphidae-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> Namens Francis Gilbert
Verzonden: zondag 13 december 2020 19:58
Aan: bioveyda at gmail.com
CC: Peter Kevan <pkevan at uoguelph.ca>; Hoverfly discussion list
<syrphidae at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>
Onderwerp: [Syrphidae] males & pollen

 

hi Emile

 

As far as I know, no-one has ever experimentally addressed the question of
whether males need pollen to mature their gonads. I think Peter is the only
person to have suggested it. It is a very reasonable suggestion, given that
(a) most species are protandrous; and (b) in all spp where females take
pollen, males do as well, but they are less often seen taking pollen than
the females (Gilbert 1981 PhD thesis, p.129 & Table 7.1.2). From gut
dissections, male Rhingia campestris contain more nectar and less pollen
than females, but they clearly take pollen (Haslett 1989 Oecologia 81: 361).
Unfortunately there is no ageing method similar to female ovary development
to help with the timing of their pollen ingestion.

 

I am not sure there is much more than that in the literature.

 

Best wishes

 

Francis

 

 

Professor Francis Gilbert

Room B132 Life Sciences, University Park

University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

Tel 0115 951 3215

webpage: www.nottingham.ac.uk/~plzfg/ <http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~plzfg/> 

 

 
 
This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee
and may contain confidential information. If you have received this
message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and
attachment. 
 
Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not
necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email
communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored 
where permitted by law.
 
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/syrphidae/attachments/20210117/e490a304/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Zweefvliegennieuwsbrief_2005-1.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 4792156 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/syrphidae/attachments/20210117/e490a304/attachment-0001.pdf>