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The evolutionary adaptation of flower colours and the insect pollinators' colour vision

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Summary

The evolutionary tuning between floral colouration and the colour vision of flower-visiting Hymenoptera is quantified by evaluating the informational transfer from the signalling flower to the perceiving pollinator. The analysis of 180 spectral reflection spectra of angiosperm blossoms reveals that sharp steps occur precisely at those wavelengths where the pollinators are most sensitive to spectral differences. Straight-forward model calculations determine the optimal set of 3 spectral photoreceptor types for discrimination of floral colour signals on the basis of perceptual difference values. The results show good agreement with the sets of photoreceptors characterized electrophysiologically in 40 species of Hymenoptera.

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  1. Institut für Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Str. 28-30 1000, 33, Berlin, Germany

    Lars Chittka & Randolf Menzel

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  1. Lars Chittka
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  2. Randolf Menzel
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Chittka, L., Menzel, R. The evolutionary adaptation of flower colours and the insect pollinators' colour vision. J Comp Physiol A 171, 171–181 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00188925

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