The ‘Guerteria diffusa’ flower found in South Africa emits 3D fake bees to attract real bees, the fake bee is prominent on the floating side. Photo: Courtesy of The Scientist
South Africa: A special gene has been found in a species of daisy flower in South Africa that produces bee imprints on the leaves. Seeing these impressions of the female bee, the male bees come there and thus the growth and fertility of the flower continues to increase.
The name of this flower is ‘Gorteria diffusa’ which deceives the bees by its appearance so that they start hovering over it. After several decades of research, it has been discovered that thanks to a special gene, it creates designs on the leaves that, when viewed from a distance, give the impression of a bee with real features.
According to a report published in Current Biology, thanks to three key genes, he was able to create fake 3D bee images of himself. Before that, scientists were puzzled and pondered for decades.
The three sets of newly discovered genes, though they also perform other flower functions, also make the fake bee shapes on the daisies’ petals. By the way, these genes also enable the formation of leaves and the supply of iron from the roots of the plant.
The supply of steel also changes the color of the leaves and creates false bee markings, and further steel creates markings on the sides of the bee’s mouth that look like bee hairs.
This research was done by University of Cambridge Professor Beverley Glover and his colleagues. According to him, with this cleverness, the flowers attract bees towards them, which carry the nectaries to a distance, and its reproduction (pollination) increases.
The larvae rub themselves against the fake bees for some time and thus the acorns stick to them.
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