Production year
2017
© Sophie NADOT/ESE/CNRS Images
Reference
20170027_0006
Ophrys abeille dont le labelle mime le corps d'une abeille femelle
Bee orchid, Ophrys apifera, whose labellum mimics the body of a female bee. The petals of some orchids adopt forms of remarkable complexity that attract specialist pollinating insects. These orchid flower shapes diversified due to changes in the regulation of the genes activated during petal formation. This was observed in particular in the outline of the medial petal, which forms the lip of the flower, and which adopts a very different shape and colour to the other petals due to specific gene activation.
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