Pollinating Cricket Top 10 New Species of 2011
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(Cricket image courtesy of Sylvain Hugel; image of orchid courtesy of C. Micheneau)
Name: Glomeremus orchidophilus
Common Name: None
Family: Gryllacrididae
How it made the Top 10: This species is the only pollinator of the rare/endangered orchid Angraecum cadetii on Réunion island (South Western Indian Ocean), representing the first clearly-supported case of orthopteran-mediated pollination in flowering plants.
Reference: Hugel, S., C. Micheneau, J. Fournel, B.H. Warren, A. Gauvin-Bialecki, T. Pailler, M.W. Chase and D. Strasberg. 2010. Glomeremus species from the Mascarene islands (Orthoptera, Gryllacrididae) with the description of the pollinator of an endemic orchid from the island of Réunion. Zootaxa 2545:58-68.
Type Material: Holotype and allotype - Muséum National d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France. Paratypes – MNHN; Natural History Museum (BMNH), London, UK; Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute (MSIRI), Reduit, Mauritius; Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD), Saint-Denis, Réunion and Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de la Réunion (MHNR), Saint-Denis, Réunion.
Type Locality: Indian Ocean, Mascarene Archipelago, la Réunion, Saint Philippe, hauts de Mare Longue, 21°20’47’’S, 55°44’22’’E.
Etymology: None provided.
Click here to see video of the cricket pollinating the orchid provided by the BBC.
