New evidence of floral elaiophores and characterization of the oil flowers in the subtribe Oncidiinae (Orchidaceae)

Abstract

Elaiophores seems to be uncommon in Orchidaceae; however, the number of known species with floral oil glands has increased in recent years, principally in Oncidiinae. Oil rewards are used by bees of the tribes Centridini, Tapinotaspidini and Tetrapediini. Our aims were to identify the presence of elaiophores and to describe their structure in species of Gomesa, Grandiphyllum and Trichocentrum, and to compare our results with other studies of elaiophores in Oncidiinae. We selected a set of characters presumably associated with oil production in flowers of Oncidiinae, which were evaluated using a cluster analysis to identify different floral morphologies of the oil flowers. The correlation between morphological types of oil flowers and species of pollinators was examined. The cluster analysis distinguished two groups of species, one of them principally linked with pollination by bees of genus Centris and the other type associated to species of Paratetrapedia and Tetrapedia. The evaluation of these results into a phylogenetic framework of the Oncidiinae, adding more evidence that species of this subtribe with similar floral morphology associated with floral oil secretion arise in many independent clades, in parallel evolution with the oil-bee pollination.