Brood-site-pollination
Guides
Cecidomyiidi
gall midges, gall gnats
Cecidomyiidi is a supertribe of small flies within the subfamily Cecidomyiinae. Members are commonly known as gall midges or gall gnats. While many species induce plant galls, others exhibit diverse ecological roles including fungivory, parasitoidism, predation, and specialized mutualisms with plants. The supertribe includes species with unusual reproductive strategies such as brood site pollination, where larvae develop within floral structures.
Derelomus
Derelomus is a genus of weevils (Curculionidae: Derelomini) distributed across the Afrotropical and Mediterranean regions. The genus comprises 32 recognized species, organized into four main species groups based on morphological and molecular data. Species exhibit specialized brood site pollination mutualisms with host plants, with different species groups associated with distinct plant families: Fabaceae (Vachellia), Achariaceae/Ebenaceae, Strelitziaceae/Arecaceae (Strelitzia and Phoenix reclinata), and Arecaceae palms (Chamaerops, Cocos, Phoenix). Adults are small weevils with rostrate heads typical of the family.
Derelomus subcostatus
Derelomus subcostatus Boheman, 1844 is a flower weevil (Curculionidae: Derelomini) now synonymized with D. chamaeropis (Fabricius, 1798). It belongs to the D. ephippiger species group, comprising 12 species associated with male inflorescences of palms (Arecaceae). The species participates in brood-site pollination mutualisms, developing within palm flowers while effecting pollination.
Pharaxonotha
Pharaxonotha is a genus of pleasing fungus beetles in the family Erotylidae, established by Reitter in 1875. Most species are obligate symbionts of New World cycads, living and breeding within male pollen cones where they consume pollen and cone tissues, and serving as specialized pollinators by transferring pollen to female cones. The genus exhibits a remarkable coevolutionary relationship with cycads dating back approximately 200 million years to the early Jurassic. One species, P. kirschii, is an exception, inhabiting forest floor litter and stored foods rather than cycad cones. The beetles possess infrared receptors on their antennae that enable them to detect thermogenic cones of their host plants.