DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pc866t1n8
title: Data from: The pollination of Habenaria rhodocheila (Orchidaceae) in South China: When butterflies take sides

description: Habenaria is one of the largest terrestrial genera in the family
 Orchidaceae. Most field studies on Habenaria species with greenish-white
 and nocturnal scented flowers are pollinated by nocturnal hawkmoths and
 settling moths. However, H. rhodocheila presents reddish flowers lacking a
 detectable scent and fails to fit the moth pollination syndrome. We
 investigated the pollinators, breeding system and functional traits of H.
 rhodocheila in South China and found that two diurnal swallowtail
 butterflies Papilio helenus and P. nephelus (Papilionidae) were the
 effective pollinators. When butterflies foraged for nectar in the spur,
 the pollinia became attached between the palpi. A triangular projected
 median rostellar lobe was found at the entrance (sinus) of the spur of H.
 rhodocheila. This lobe divided the spur opening into two entrances forcing
 butterflies to enter their proboscides through the left or right side.
 When the projection of median rostellar lobe was removed, the site of
 pollinium attachment changed to the eyes of the butterflies, leading to a
 higher rate of pollinium removal but lower rate of pollinium deposition.
 Our quartz glass cylinder choice experiment suggested that visual rather
 than olfactory cues provided the major stimuli for butterflies to locate
 these flowers. Hand pollination experiments suggested this species was
 self-compatible but pollinator dependent. However, the proportion of seeds
 with large embryos produced in self-pollinated fruits was significantly
 lower than in cross-pollinated fruits, indicating a significant inbreeding
 depression. Unlike many other orchid species, fruit set was higher than
 rates of pollinium removal, indicating a high level of pollination
 efficiency in a species with friable pollinia. Shifts from moth to
 butterfly pollination in the genus Habenaria parallel other orchid
 lineages providing insights in the potential for pollinator-mediated
 floral trait selection.
description: This dataset was collected from field observations conducted in
 the Jiulianshan Natural Nature Reserve of South China. The fieldwork was
 accomplished by Xing-Hui Chen and other authors as referred to author
 contributions in the manuscript. 
description: # The Pollination of Habenaria rhodocheila (Orchidaceae) in South China:
 When Butterflies Take Sides
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pc866t1n8](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pc866t1n8) ## Description of the data and file structure The dataset includes embryonic development data, floral trait data, pollinator visit data, and pollinator visit data of *Habenaria rhodocheila*. ### Files and variables #### File: Chen\_et\_al.\_2021.\_Ecology\_and\_Evolution.\_dataset.zip **Description:**  (1) The `embryonic development data `file shows the proportion of large, small, aborted, and no embryo under natural, cross, and self-pollination respectively. Ten dehiscent ovaries from each treatment were harvested to estimate embryonic development (values in each column of the table). All the seeds of each fruit were placed on a petri dish and examined under a light microscope, Olympus BX51 (Tokyo, Japan). Seeds were assigned to four categories following the method of Ren et al. (2014) i.e. large embryo, small embryo, aborted embryo, and no embryo. (2) The` flower trait data `file shows the floral traits including spur length (N=30), distance between opening of spur to the viscidium (N=30), distance between the two stigma lobes (N=30), distance between two viscidia (N=30), length of caudicle (N=15), length of pollinium (N=15), width of pollinium (N=15), nectar length at daytime (N=20), nectar volume at daytime (N=20), nectar length at night (N=20), nectar volume at night (N=20), nectar concentration at daytime (N=20), and nectar concentration at night (N=20). Each column represents the value of a replicate measurement. (3) `Pollinator visit data` file shows the behaviors of the two pollinators of *Habenaria rhodocheila*, including spent time at each flower, spent time at each flower inflorescence, number of flowers visited in a inflorescence, proboscis length, and pollinia carried. Each column represents the value of a independent observation. (4) The video file Video S1 recorded the process of a swallowtail butterfly *Papilio nephelus* foraging *Habenaria rhodocheila* flowers with pollinaria attached between its palpi. ## Code/software None ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * None Data was derived from the following sources: Data was derived from the recordings in the natural populations of *Habenaria rhodocheila* in Jiulianshan National Nature Reserve of southern China.