Heat-seeking Beetles

AAAS: “Heat-seeking beetles drawn to plants that glow in infrared.” There exist novel pollinators like lizards, geckos, skinks + many more. “Long before flowers arose and the first bees and butterflies flitted about, palmlike plants called cycads offered a different kind of lure to insects: cones that heat up to act as thermal beacons to their beetle pollinators.” Turns out that plants evolved the ability to produce heat about a dozen times, always in their reproductive structures, which brings to mind…never mind.

“For her Ph.D. research, Valencia-Montoya placed pots with male or female cycads (Zamia furfuracea) 50 meters from one another. “After collecting beetles that pollinate that species (Rhopalotria furfuracea), she put a dye on them and confirmed they were attracted by the cones — so much so that they sought out the cones’ warmest crevices.” It’s long been known that the beetles are attracted to strong scents released by cycads, so she also used 3D scent-free replicas which also drew in the insects, arriving + departing as the temperature rose and fell. “Using an electron microscope, she found that the tips of the beetles’ antennae have neurons…studying antennae snipped off the millimeter-size beetles — work so precise that she had to give up drinking coffee — she learned that the neurons respond to heat.” Interestingly, “RNA within the neurons also revealed the activity of a gene called TRPA1, which is known from mosquitoes and snakes to be involved in infrared detection.”

And talk about selectivity: “The antennae of Pharaxonotha floridana react more strongly to the temperature range of cones belonging to Zamia integrifolia, the species it prefers to pollinate, whereas R. furfuraceae antennae responded more to the warmer cones from its host plant (Z. furfuracea). Finally, “the male cones reached their peak temperature about 3 hours before female cones.” What can I say that would not be inappropriate here?