Today I stumbled across this particular sighting on iNaturalist that shows multiple adult dermestid beetles (Dermestes maculatus) inside a flower. At least six individuals! Huh?
The following photographs are made by Marienne de Villiers (mdevill) at KK First Ridge in South Africa. The flower in question is the species Hydnora africana and is also called jakkalskos or jackal food. These fleshy flowers are pollinated by dung and carrion beetles that are attracted to its carrion-like smell, and the flowers briefly trap the insects before letting them go covered in pollen. The species Dermestes maculatus accounted for 76.9% of the imprisoned insects during a study in Namibia (Bolin et al. 2009).
One of the commenters, Riaan Stals (beetledude), connected the dots between the iNaturalist sighting and an article describing this exact phenomena on the website of The Botanical Society of America. More about this article below.
The original article wasn't available anymore, but luckily I was able to access it through the WayBack Machine. The author, Sherwin Carlquist from Santa Barbara California USA, describes how she attracted dermestid beetles (misidentified as dung beetles) with this African plant in her American garden. Read her story below:
Image above is clipped from the study of Bolin et al. 2009, showing multiple adult Dermestes maculatus beetles inside a Hydnora africana flower.
Literature:
- Bolin, J. F.; Maass, E.; Musselman, L. J. (2009). "Pollination biology of Hydnora africana Thunb. (Hydnoraceae) in Namibia: Brood-site mimicry with insect imprisonment". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 170 (2): 157–163. doi:10.1086/593047
- de Villiers, M. (2020). iNaturalist: Dermestes maculatus. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/64050081
- Carlquist, S. (2020). The Botanical Society of America: BSA Parasitic Plant Pages, Hydnora africana. https://www.botany.org/Parasitic_Plants/Hydnora_africana.php
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