A mushroom by any other name would smell as sweet: Dracula orchids
نویسندگان
چکیده
Mimicry, like coral snakes and their nonvenomous imposters, is one of the most compelling examples of evolution by natural selection. Although mostly known from animals that gain protection by resembling an unpalatable or harmful compatriot, both types of mimicry, Müllerian and Batesian, also occur in plants and fungi. Some fungi are known to mimic flowers to dupe pollinators into vectoring spores or to achieve “pollination” themselves, but flowers that mimic fungi are highly unusual. However, in the cloud forests of the Neotropics, the orchid genus Dracula appears to be a remarkable example of a bizarre but successful fungal mimicry: Over 100 species have flowers that look and smell like fleshy mushrooms to attract pollinating flies. Although it has been speculated that Dracula orchids and some other flowers may mimic mushrooms as a way to access an abundant and untapped pollinator resource, until recently no empirical data have been gathered to investigate this hypothesis. Here we review what is known about the models (fleshy mushrooms), the mimics (Dracula orchids) and the “signal receivers” (fungus-seeking flies) that encompass this rare and fantastic phenomenon of mushroom mimicry. This knowledge base allows us to examine how the system came about, how it is sustained, and what might threaten its posterity. Critically, in the face of an increasing rate of habitat loss, the only way to preserve the threatened marvel of mushroom mimicry may be to make a concerted effort to preserve the native mushrooms.
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