For decades scientists assumed these insects looked so much like orchids as a form of camouflage. But they were wrong. They ...

Some orchids, however, appear to offer the promise of sex: They have evolved to resemble female versions of certain insects. The pseudo-copulation strategy of the orchid enables it to spread its ...

The orchid accomplishes its sexual deception by mimicking the appearance, scent, and even the tactile experience of a female bee. The flower, in other words, traffics in something very much like ...

Despite the elaborate deception, bee orchids also engage in self-pollination, transferring pollen from the male to the female parts of the same plant. The late spider orchid however is pollinated ...

As predicted, female bees prefer visiting oil-flowers ... Multipartite oil-flower/oil-bee mutualisms involving male-bee-pollinated orchids in tropical Asia, National Science Review (2024).