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The reason some flowers look like insects is all down to sexual deception \u2013 a strategy of which the orchids are masters. The orchid genus Ophrys<\/em> contains many species that resemble female bees and wasps in order to entice male insects to attempt to mate with them \u2013 thus pollinating the flowers.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Ophrys speculum<\/em> from the Mediterranean is a prime example, it even has a blue patch that looks uncannily like light reflected from the folded wings of a wasp.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s another hidden sexual attractant \u2013 the orchid has evolved a scent that exactly mimics the come-hither aroma of female wasps, provoking a sexual frenzy in males.<\/p>\n Browse the perfume counter in a department store and you\u2019ll be left in no doubt that fragrances are potent sexual signals \u2013 an evolutionary conclusion that O. speculum<\/em> and its enslaved wasps reached millions of years ago.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Main image: Mirror orchid (<\/em>Ophrys speculum) \u00a9 Getty<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n By Phil Gates Published: Saturday, 24 December 2022 at 12:00 am The reason some flowers look like insects is all down to sexual deception \u2013 a strategy of which the orchids are masters. The orchid genus Ophrys contains many species that resemble female bees and wasps in order to entice male insects to attempt to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":23707,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/why-some-flowers-look-like-insects.jpg",2020,1484,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/why-some-flowers-look-like-insects-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/why-some-flowers-look-like-insects-300x220.jpg",300,220,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/why-some-flowers-look-like-insects-768x564.jpg",768,564,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/why-some-flowers-look-like-insects-1024x752.jpg",800,588,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/why-some-flowers-look-like-insects-1536x1128.jpg",1536,1128,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/12\/why-some-flowers-look-like-insects.jpg",2020,1484,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Phil Gates Published: Saturday, 24 December 2022 at 12:00 am The reason some flowers look like insects is all down to sexual deception \u2013 a strategy of which the orchids are masters. The orchid genus Ophrys contains many species that resemble female bees and wasps in order to entice male insects to attempt to…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/23706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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