SIMILAR MEALYBUGS: There are several mealybugs that are reported as occurring on orchids, and in Florida the most commonly encountered mealybugs on orchids are: pineapple mealybug (Dysmicoccus brevipes), longtailed mealybug (Pseudococcus longispinus), Jack Beardsley mealybug (Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi), orchid mealybug (Pseudococcus microcirculus) and the obscure mealybug (Pseudococcus viburn...

The fungal endophytes of Australian myco-heterotrophic orchids are largely unknown. In this investigation we identified the fungal endophytes of three species of Australian myco-heterotrophic orchid: the terrestrial species Dipodium variegatum and Dipodium hamiltonianum and the vine-like Erythrorchis cassythoides. Similar to studies of myco-heterotrophic orchids in Nth America and Europe the fu...

UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY Phylogenetic and microsatellite markers were developed for Tulasnella mycorrhizal fungi to investigate fungal species identity and diversity. These markers will be useful in future studies investigating the phylogenetic relationship of the fungal symbionts, specificity of orchid-mycorrhizal associations, and the role of mycorrhizae in orchid speciation within ...

Among rewardless orchids, pollinator sampling behavior has been suggested to drive a positive relationship between population phenotypic variability and absolute reproductive success, and hence population fitness. We tested this hypothesis by constructing experimental arrays using the rewardless orchid Dactylorhiza sambucina, which is dimorphic for corolla color. We found no evidence that polym...

Intercontinental disjunctions between tropical regions, which harbor two-thirds of the flowering plants, have drawn great interest from biologists and biogeographers. Most previous studies on these distribution patterns focused on woody plants, and paid little attention to herbs. The Orchidaceae is one of the largest families of angiosperms, with a herbaceous habit and a high species diversity ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Mycorrhizal specialization has been shown to limit recruitment capacity in orchids, but an increasing number of orchids are being documented as invasive or weed-like. The reasons for this proliferation were examined by investigating mycorrhizal fungi and edaphic correlates of Microtis media, an Australian terrestrial orchid that is an aggressive ecosystem and horticultural w...