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AOBPreview published online on September 19, 2003
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcg190
© 2003 by Annals of Botany Company
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Submitted on May 30, 2003
Revised on July 17, 2003
Accepted on July 30, 2003

Dyssochroma viridiflorum (Solanaceae): a Reproductively Bat-dependent Epiphyte from the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil

MARLIES SAZIMA1*, SILVANA BUZATO2, and IVAN SAZIMA3

Affiliation of the authors: 1 Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biologia, Caixa Postal 6109, Universidade Estadual de Campinas,13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brasil,; 2 Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Caixa Postal 11461, Universidade de São Paulo, 05422-970 São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil, and; 3 Departamento de Zoologia e Museu de História Natural, Caixa Postal 6109, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brasil

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: msazima{at}unicamp.br.

Few Neotropical plant species seem to depend on the same animal type both for pollination and seed dispersal, and the known instances refer mostly to birds as the agents in these two phases of a plant reproductive cycle. Dyssochroma viridiflorum (Solanaceae), an epiphyte endemic to the Atlantic rainforest in south-eastern Brazil, was found to be visited by phyllostomid bats for nectar as well as for fruits, with the pollination and seed dispersal of the plant ensured by these flying mammals. The greenish flowers open at night and are visited by the nectar-feeding bat Glossophaga soricina, whereas the yellowish-white fruits are consumed by two species of fruit-eating bats, Carollia perspicillata and Sturnira lilium. Only clinging visits, an uncommon behavioural pattern for glossophagine bats while feeding on flowers, were recorded. The small seeds of D. viridiflorum are swallowed along with the fruit pulp and later defecated on the bats' flying pathways. It is suggested that species of Dyssochroma and two other solanaceous bat-pollinated genera, Merinthopodium and Trianaea, form a derived and bat-dependent clade within the Juanulloeae.
Key words: Dyssochroma, Solanaceae, reproduction, bat-pollination, Glossophaga, bat-dispersal, Carollia, Sturnira, Phyllostomidae, rainforest, south-eastern Brazil.


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