Krenn HW, Colville JF, Melin A, Bleikolm AK, Distiller G & Karolyi F. 2025
In O. Betz (Ed.) Insect Ecomorphology - Linking Functional Insect Morphology to Ecology and Evolution; Pages 457-467 Elsevier. ISBN: 978-0-443-18544-1; DOI: 10.1016/C2022-0-00035-0

Abstract

Long-proboscid, nectar-feeding Nemestrinidae are important flower visitors of South African plants. We use Prosoeca marinusi Barraclough, 2018 as a model and present the functional morphology of its elongated siphoning mouthparts, the suction pumps inside the head and the gross morphology of the alimentary tract in context of estimated volumes of nectar uptake, as well as the spatial and temporal variation of proboscis length within and between populations. Proboscis length shows a high degree of intraspecific plasticity strongly driven by variation in body size independent of tube length of host plants, particularly across years. The results from these comprehensive studies of form, function and performance of the feeding organs as well as our long-term ecological studies provide a remarkably well-studied model system of the ecomorphology of a long-proboscid pollinating insect and its interactions with its long-tubed flowers.