Two cases of bat pollination in Central America

Abstract

Visits by bats of the family ,Phyllostomatidae (in the suborder Microchi­roptera) to the flowers of Durio zibethinus growing in Honduras and Mucuna andreana growing in Costa Rica are described and illustrated photographically. In Durio we have a case of flower-type which evolved in relation to visits from Megachiroptera in the Old World proving attractive to Microchiroptera which developed the flower-visiting habit in the New World. Hawkmoths also visit these flowers. Both kinds of visitor are capable of causing cross-pollínation (which is necessary for fruit production by this species because it appears to be self-incompatible) . In Mucuna andreana, a native American vine demons­ trates a close adaptation to pollination by native bats; again a parallel to similar evolutionary development in the Old World.