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Image Title: Perfect fit? - A glossophagine bat (Anoura geoffroyi, Phyllostomidae) visiting Burmeistera sodiroana (Campanulaceae)
AJB Editor: Judy Jernstedt, University of California - Davis
Intended End User: Teacher, Student
License Details: BSA - Terms for Image Use
Copyright held by: Cooper/BSA
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About the Image

A glossophagine bat (Anoura geoffroyi, Phyllostomidae) visiting Burmeistera sodiroana (Campanulaceae) in a flight cage set up in the Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve, Pichincha Province, Ecuador. The flower morphology fits the bat's head closely, allowing precise and consistent pollen placement on the crown (note the spot of pollen from a previous visit). The well-exposed flowers of this species and eight other Ecuadorian species of Burmeistera are dull-colored and emit strong odors and were found to be highly specialized for bat pollination; although bats and hummingbirds visited their flowers, only bats effectively transferred pollen. Flowers of a tenth species, B. rubrosepala, are bright red and yellow with narrow corolla apertures and no odor and were exclusively hummingbird pollinated.

Link to the AJB Abstract for the article:
The pollination biology of Burmeistera (Campanulaceae): specialization and syndromes
by Nathan Muchhala


National Science Foundation  Development Supported by the National Science Foundation