@article {1839,
	title = {Pollination by monkey beetles (Scarabaeidae: Hopliini): do color and dark centers of flowers influence alighting behavior?},
	journal = {Environmental Entomology},
	volume = {30},
	number = {5},
	year = {2001},
	pages = {861-868},
	abstract = {Monkey beetles (Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Hopliini) visit mostly unscented {\ss}owers with conspicuous dark center patterns that have been suggested to mimic resting beetles. Field observations in South Africa showed that monkey beetles are the primary pollen vectors of the dark-centered {\ss}owers of Ixia dubia Vent. (Iridaceae) and Spiloxene capensis (L.) Garside (Hypoxi- daceae), and the dark-centered {\ss}owerheads of Gazania pectinata (Thunb.) Spreng. (Asteraceae). Monkey beetles used the {\ss}owers of these species as mating rendezvous sites and consequently showed a signi{\TH}cant clumped distribution in {\ss}owers. We used model {\ss}owers approximating the study species to determine which traits are important for eliciting alighting behavior in monkey beetles. Contrary to expectations, beetles did not signi{\TH}cantly prefer dark-centered to plain models in 7 of 8 independent experiments, nor did beetles discriminate signi{\TH}cantly between plain models and models with male or female beetles glued to their surface. However, beetles did show a strong preference for orange over red, yellow, and blue models. The results of this study indicate that alighting behavior of monkey beetles is in{\ss}uenced primarily by {\ss}ower color rather than {\ss}ower patterning or presence of other beetles. },
	keywords = {foraging behavior, Hopliinae, insect vision, mimicry, plant-pollinator interactions},
	author = {Johnson, Steven D. and Midgley, Jeremy J.}
}
