User:Takeahike1/Bird Pollination System in Orchids

The sunbirds of South Africa and Malawi have been observed using a new pollination system in a recent study. Sunbirds frequent certain species of flowers in the Orchidaceae family, like the Disa chrysostachya Sw. and the Disa satyriopsis Kraenzl. When the sunbirds perch on the flowers to feed on the nectar, the pollen becomes attached to their feet and then is carried to the next flower to the sunbird thus transferring the pollen from one flower to the next. The evolution of this specific pollination mechanism is thought to be due to adaptations in the flower structure, for example in the two prior mentioned Disa species, inflorescences are unusually tall, narrow, and tightly packed and their viscidia are larger, these adaptations are thought to result in the attachment of pollen onto the bird pollinators feet. Another morphological structure that is of interest in these two types of Disa, is the stigma, which is the structure of the flower that receives the pollen, it is shelf shaped in these two species of orchids and as a result of that, when birds perch on this structure they deposit the pollen that was previously on their feet, very easily. This pollination system was just recently discovered by S.D Johnson and M. Brown in South Africa, which goes to show that new pollination systems are constantly evolving and being discovered.