Ornithophily & Chiropterophily - Practice Questions & MCQ

Ornithophily:

• Bird-pollinated flowers are not many in num­ber. 
• Tiny birds like the humming-birds and the honey-thrushes (birds only an inch or so long) feed on the nectar of flowers like Bignonia capreolata and thereby pollinate them.
• Large flowers of Strelitzia (Musaceae) are polli­nated by a honey bird called Nectarine afra.
• In India, silk-cotton (Salmalia or Bombax), Erythrina and a few other trees are visited by crows and mynas when in flower. 
• These birds may play some part in the polli­nation.

Chiropterophily:

• Bauhinia Malandra of Java, Eperua falcata (Leguminosae) and a few other trees are known to be pollinated by bats. 
• Several trees in India, like Anthocephalus Chinensis (Rubiaceae) and silk-cotton, are also visited by bats which possibly help in the pollination although their role is not definitely known.