Question:

Colpa aurea is a specialised pollinating agent of orchid Ophrys speculum. Male Colpa mistakes the Ophrys flower for female wasp to copulate with it.

Updated On: Jul 28, 2022
  • If both assertion and reason are true and reason is the correct explanation of assertion
  • If both assertion and reason are true but reason is not the correct explanation of assertion
  • If assertion is true but reason is false
  • If both assertion and reason are false
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

For its pollination, the orchid Ophrys speculum has picked the most selective attraction in the entire animal kingdom. It is pollinated by a hairy wasp, Colpa aurea. The wasp has a fixed habit whereby its males leave the burrows for above ground existence about four weeks before the females emerge for the open air mating. The orchid opens its flowers about the same time the males appear and they possess an appearance and odour similar to those possessed by the female wasp. The inexperienced males mistake the Ophrys flowers for their female counterparts and land to perform the act of pseudocopulation. The insect repeats the act with a number of orchid flowers and carries pollinia from one flower to another thereby affecting pollination in the orchid.
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Organisms and Populations

Organisms:

An attached living system that lives in an environment is commonly known as an organism. These organisms are able to retain certain behaviors and structures. Some examples of organisms are plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, and humans. A group of these organisms leads to the formation of a population. The collection of the population forms a community that assists in the operation of ecosystems. 

Each and every organism has the ability to adapt itself to various conditions of the environment. This capacity of organisms is due to their genetic variations. It is due to this only that their probability of survival get increases. For instance, camels adapt themselves to survive in desert areas and polar bears adapt to the extreme cold conditions or situations through their dense fur coat.

Populations:

A collection of organisms or individuals of a species that live, at a specific time, in a geographical area that is well-defined and capable of interbreeding is described as a population.

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