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NEET AIPMT SOLVED PAPER 1998

  • question_answer
                    An interesting modification of flower shape for insect pollination occurs in some orchids in which a male insect mistakes the pattern on the orchid flower for the female species and tries to copulate with it, thereby pollinating the flower. This phenomenon is called:                                                                          

    A)              mimicry                  

    B)              pseudocopulation             

    C)              pseudopollination             

    D)              Pseudoparthenocarpy

    Correct Answer: B

    Solution :

                For its pollination the orchid Ophrys speculum has picked on the most selective attraction in the entire animal kingdom. It is pollinated by a hairy wasp, Colpa aurea. The wasp has a fixed habit whereby its males leave the burrows for above-ground existence about four weeks before the females emerge for the open-air mating. The orchid opens its flowers about the same time the males appear and they possess an appearance and odour similar to those possessed by the female wasps. The inexperienced males mistake the Ophrys flowers for their female counterparts and land to perform the act of pseudo-copulation. The insect repeats the act with a number of orchid flowers and carries pollinia from one flower to another. This insect-plant relationship is beneficial only to the plant.


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