Observation of a Yellow-footed Antechinus Antechinus flavipes foraging on Needle-leaved Mistletoe Amyema cambagei flowers: are Antechinus pollinators of mistletoe?

摘要

Pollination by non-flying mammals is often overlooked and yet may be crucial for some plant species (Goldingay et al 1991). For example, the flowers of Acrotriche serrulata (Ericaceae) are adapted to non-flying mammal pollination, and cannot be pollinated by honey-eating birds (Johnson et al. 2011; McConchie et al. 1986). In Australia, small dasyurid mammal nectar feeders are abundant in some ecosystems, which hints that their role in pollination may be more significant than previously recognised (Fox and Archer 1984; Goldingay 2000). Anecdotal evidence coupled with more recent field studies have demonstrated that Antechinus consume pollen of a variety of plant species (Carthew 1993; Goldingay 2000). For example, the Brown Antechinus Antechinus stuartii, which usually relies on a diet of invertebrates (Fox and Archer 1984), sometimes includes large amounts of pollen from Banksia and Xanthorrhoea flowers in its diet (van Tets and Whelan 1997; Whelan et al. 1996).