EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

The Fly That Serves the State

Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia caerules) and unidentified fly
Rocky Mountains, Colorado USA

Explanation:  Behold the beautiful Rocky Mountain columbine, the state flower of Colorado.  With petals and sepals of white and lavender, and anthers of yellow, this flower is protected under state law. 

But look more closely ... there's a fly in the ointment.  Or in the anthers, more specifically, those male parts of the flower that shed pollen.  And the fly is covered with the plant's pollen, and thus may be serving as a pollinator for this wonderful flower.
  

Previous studies of this plant, however, identified its pollinators as a hawkmoth (Hyles lineata) and ten species of pollen-foraging bumblebees (Bombus spp.) (Miller 1978, 1981) ... but no flies.   

Some plants have evolved specific relationships with particular pollinators that don't pollinate similar plant species.  In this way, the plants won't hybridize and can retain their separate species identities.  

However, in this case, it is unknown the degree to which this fly serves to pollinate Rocky Mountain columbine, and/or its related species.  Here is an ecological mystery waiting for research to solve ...

Information:
     Miller, R. B.  1978.  The pollination ecology of Aquilegia elegantula and A. caerulea (Ranunculaceae) in Colorado.  Amerian Journal of Botany 65(4):406-414.
     Miller, R. B.  1981.  Hawkmoths and the geographic patterns of floral variation in Aquilegia caerulea.  Evolution 35(4):763-774.