Flower visitors to cherimoya, Annona cherimola (Magnoliales: Annonaceae) in Japan

The cherimoya is an orchard tree that is not pollinated by bees. To identify likely pollinators, and to describe community diversity, we surveyed flower visitors at four sites in Wakayama and Mie prefectures, and found 569 individuals from 31 species of arthropods. Two of these species were arachnid and the others were insects. The most abundant species in terms of per capita density was Mimemodes monstrosus (Rhizophagidae), followed by species in the genus Phloeonomus (Staphylinidae) and Cortinicara gibbosa (Lathridiidae). Two nitidulid species, Carpophilus marginellus and Haptoncus ocularis, were also common. Among them, M. monstrosus, C. marginellus and H. ocularis, especially the former two, were regarded as good candidates for pollinators. All of the dominant species were beetles. C. gibbosa was most abundant early in the flowering season, whereas Phloeonomus sp. showed two peaks, in late May and late July. Species richness, S′ (45), ranged from 5.4 to 9.0, while heterogeneity measures, 1-D and exp H′, ranged from 0.59 to 0.78 and from 3.5 to 5.9, respectively. The index of similarity, Cλ, varied from 0.04 to 0.76, whereas the rank correlation coefficient, τ, between each site varied from −0.32 to 0.23. The contents and diversities of flower visitor communities appeared to be affected by the surrounding environment and management strategy of the orchards.