(Asclepiadoideae, Apocynaceae), a new species from Japan for Nakai, nomen nudum.

Wolf is the third largest genus in Asclepiadoideae, and 23 species are distributed in Japan. We discovered that an erect herb species, distributed in the eastern part of the Honshu island, was invalidly named (Nakai) Kitag. based on Nakai, nomen nudum.

Adaptation to pollination by fungus gnats underlies the evolution of pollination syndrome in the genus Euonymus.

Background And Aims: Dipteran insects are known pollinators of many angiosperms, but knowledge on how flies affect floral evolution is relatively scarce. Some plants pollinated by fungus gnats share a unique set of floral characters (dark red display, flat shape and short stamens), which differs from any known pollination syndromes. We tested whether this set of floral characters is a pollination syndrome associated with pollination by fungus gnats, using the genus Euonymus as a model.

Three new species of Ametrodiplosis (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) from Japan, with a key to the Japanese species and a molecular phylogenetic analysis.

Ametrodiplosis Rübsaamen (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae: Clinodiplosini) is a mostly Holarctic gall midge genus whose species are associated with a wide range of seed plant families, either as gall-inducers or inquilines. In this study, we describe three species of Ametrodiplosis from Japan: A. adetos n.

Evolution of honest reward signal in flowers.

Some flowering plants signal the abundance of their rewards by changing their flower colour, scent or other floral traits as rewards are depleted. These floral trait changes can be regarded as honest signals of reward states for pollinators. Previous studies have hypothesized that these signals are used to maintain plant-level attractiveness to pollinators, but the evolutionary conditions leading to the development of honest signals have not been well investigated from a theoretical basis.

The diversity and evolution of pollination systems in large plant clades: Apocynaceae as a case study.

Background And Aims: Large clades of angiosperms are often characterized by diverse interactions with pollinators, but how these pollination systems are structured phylogenetically and biogeographically is still uncertain for most families. Apocynaceae is a clade of >5300 species with a worldwide distribution. A database representing >10 % of species in the family was used to explore the diversity of pollinators and evolutionary shifts in pollination systems across major clades and regions.

Pollination by fungus gnats and associated floral characteristics in five families of the Japanese flora.

Background And Aims: Pollination by fungus gnats (Mycetophilidae and Sciaridae) is uncommon, but is nevertheless known to occur in 20 genera among eight angiosperm families. Because many fungus gnat-pollinated plants possess a dark red floral display, we hypothesized that fungus gnat pollination is more widespread among plants with similar floral display than currently known. We thus studied the pollination biology of flowers with dark red pigmentation in five families, focusing particularly on plants having small, flat, actinomorphic flowers with exposed nectaries and short stamens, because these floral characteristics mirror those of a known fungus gnat-pollinated genus (Mitella).

Pollinia transfer on moth legs in (Apocynaceae).

Premise Of The Study: The genus (Apocynaceae; Asclepiadoideae) is characterized by a set of complex floral characters unique among the asclepiads, but their role in pollination is poorly understood. Here, we report a new mechanism of asclepiad pollination in the wax plant the pollinaria are transferred on the legs of medium or large settling moths.

Methods: Floral visitors and their behavior were observed on Amami-Oshima Island during 2013-2015, and the efficacy of different pollinators was determined by counting the pollinarium loads on different flower visitors.

Isolation and characterization of 11 microsatellite markers for Glochidion acuminatum (Phyllanthaceae).

Premise Of The Study: Microsatellite markers were developed for Glochidion acuminatum (Phyllanthaceae) to investigate pollen dispersal distances and thereby to assess the effectiveness of specialized Epicephala moths as pollinators. •

Methods And Results: Using next-generation sequencing, 11 polymorphic microsatellite primer pairs were developed for G. acuminatum.