Scientists in Brazil may have observed the first example of an amphibian pollinating a flowering plant.
While most frogs eat a diet rich in insects, one species in Brazil has its own method of nourishment: dunking itself headfirst into a flower's bulb to slurp up its sweet nectar. When the frog comes up for air, pollen grains stuck to its rust-colored body get dispersed as it hops from flower to flower in the forest.
"We observed individuals entering large flowers and leaving covered in pollen without destroying the flower structures," lead author Carlos Henrique de-Oliveira-Nogueira , a graduate student at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil, told Live Science in an email."This was the first time this behavior was seen and documented."
One evening, the team watched as two frogs"lapp[ed] up nectar from inside the bell-shaped flowers" in eastern Brazil's Restinga forests and then spread the pollen around, The New York Times reported.Normally, frogs prefer to dine on moths and insects, which they capture by sticking out their long tongues.
However, he cautioned that more research needs to be done before this species can be classified as a bona fide pollinator.
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