What's a better pollinator, butterflies, bees, or a different arthropod?

Nature Talk
41

Another obscure (and in this case extinct) pollinator - Alienopteridae - Wikipedia

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As noted depends on the plant species. Bats are key pollinators for many species. E.g. only pollinator for the tequila agave!

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mosquitos for me personally

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Brushes, toothpicks and women if you pay attention to the vanilla bean industry

Otherwise, it really is a meaningless question. Better is just whatever gets the job done at the moment. Too much natural selection has gone into creating pollination systems to point a finger and say ‘this one is best!’

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Saw an article recently about a unique pollinator: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nectar-eating-wolves-may-be-pollinating-flowers/

Additionally, just to address the main topic, ‘best’ is obviously a subjective term. Really, it depends on what type of plant you’re talking about. There are many plants that have evolved to be pollinated by specific types of animals (e.g. stinky plants like rafflesias smell bad to attract flies for pollination). Some go so far as to be pollinated only by specific species (e.g. Passiflora mixta, which is pollinated exclusively by sword-billed hummingbirds). There are advantages and disadvantages to being a single-pollinator species: obviously being reliant on a single species for pollination means your range is tied to theirs as is your population–if the pollinators decline, so do you–but a dedicated pollinator is not likely to stray too far from known food sources that they don’t have to compete for with other species, so it typically won’t be difficult for the plant to find a pollinator, even when more generalized pollinators can’t do the job. For those single-pollinator species, there’s no doubt what the best pollinator is.

For others, casting a wider net means a wider choice and larger available population of pollinators, but also means much heavier competition with other plant species. How do you stand out as a generalist when other species have adapted to better attract specific pollinators? It takes energy to produce nectar, so it’s much less efficient to constantly provide nectar for a broad range of pollinators. It also doesn’t matter if there are 1000 species that can pollinate you if they all prefer to visit other plants that have specialized attractants like specific shapes, colors, or scents and don’t show up for you. The best pollinator for a generalist, therefore, is simply whichever one shows up to do the job for the least amount of nectar in return.

46

Define “best” in this context. Until and unless that is done this is a useless question to ask.

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It means the best at pollinating in this case.

48

Still doesn’t define what “best” means in this context. You’re just repeating what was said in the original poll.

What measures “best” for pollenators?

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The best pollinator is the bee, ant or other creature who successfully moves pollen from one flower to another resulting in the development of a seed. Whoever gets the most seeds started in the 40 min time period wins!

However, don’t forget that contestants can earn bonus points for style.

Difficult to enter flower (3 Points)
Violent assault by flower (8 Points)
Flower also some kind of 24 hour escape room trap (20 Points)
Amazing landing or impressive jump (5 Points)
Memorable catch phrase (6 Points)

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Can contestants earn bonus points for stamen? (Anther the question only if you like)