For example, the Australian hammer orchid has taken advantage of a mating ritual of the Thynnid wasp, which involves a female wasp waiting on top of a branch or plant for a male to spot her.

For decades scientists assumed these insects looked so much like orchids as a form of camouflage. But they were wrong. They ...

Multipartite oil-flower/oil-bee mutualisms involving male-bee-pollinated orchids in tropical Asia, National Science Review (2024). DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwae072 Provided by Science China Press ...

The orchid offers no nectar or pollen reward; rather, it seduces male bees with the promise of bee sex and then insures its pollination by frustrating precisely the desire it has excited.

Some flowers go to extraordinary lengths to attract pollinators. Bee orchids mimic the shape and scent of bees in order to lure them into ‘pseudocopulation’, where the male insect attempts to mate ...

Then I read about the amazing, mutualistic relationship orchids have with the orchid bee. When I saw images of these stunning animals, in their shining green armour, I really wanted to feature ...

Sexual dimorphism is when a male and female of the same species evolve differently. Usually, the adaptations are both for reproductive purposes. In the case of adult female orchid mantises ...