A VINE in Costa Rica has nectar guides that reflect ultrasound to help bats
locate its mature flowers.
Macuna holtoni, a climbing member of the pea family, is pollinated
by the bats Glossophaga commissarisi and Lichonycteris obscura.
One of the petals on each flower is shaped like a concave mirror.
Studies by Dagmar and Otto von Helversen of the Institute of Zoology in
Erlangen, Germany, showed that the concave petal reflects bat signals from all
directions within a 40掳 cone. 鈥淲hen we attenuated the echoes by inserting
small pads of cotton wool into the petal, the frequency of bat visits was
dramatically reduced,鈥� says Otto von Helversen.
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