The Callery pear,
Pyrus calleryana Decne. var.
dimorphopheylla (Makino) Koidz., is an endangered species with a distribution restricted to the area around Ise Bay, Japan. While there has been some effort to conserve habitats in remnant populations to our knowledge, no studies have described its pollinators. Since
Pyrus is an insect-pollinated, self-incompatible genus, pollen movement among individuals is essential for regeneration. To identify the pollinators of the Callery pear, we investigated the fauna visiting flowers in the Tado population, Mie Prefecture. Over 3 days in the flowering period (early, full bloom, and late), we collected 573 insects from 10 orders and 25 families. This included Hymenoptera (26.0%;
e.g., the families Apidae and Andrenidae) and Diptera (57.4%;
e.g., the families Syrphidae and Bombyliidae), whose members are important pollinators of flowering plants. Since both hymenopterans (mainly bees) and dipterans (mainly hoverflies) visited the plants frequently during the full blooming period, we propose that these are the major pollinators of the Callery pear.
View full abstract