W. Mark Whitten University of Florida Florida Museum of Natural History P.O. Box 117800 Gainesville Florida 32611-7800 USA
Keywords
Trigonidium egertonianum
Description
Trigonidium egertonianum
Flower of Trigonidium egertonianum, an orchid in the subtribe Maxillariinae.
Flowers of Trigonidium are pollinated by pseudocopulation by meliponine
bees attracted to the bluish petal apices; the bees attempt to copulate with the
flowers and become trapped in the funnel-shaped flowers. On the basis of molecular
data, Trigonidium was found to be embedded in the large polyphyletic
genus Maxillaria.