Importance of flies as pollinators
Two case studies illustrate the importance of flies as pollinators at high altitudes:
Pollinators of Leontopodium alpinum (the edelweiss, Asteraceae)
Erhardt (1993) observed insects of 29 families as visitors to flowers of this famous plant, which is distributed from the Pyrenees to the Alps and eastwards to the Central Balkan.
| Leontopodium alpinum | ||
| Insect group | Pollination | |
| Diptera | 13 families | 88 % |
| Hymenoptera | 8 families | 6 % |
| Coleoptera | 3 families | 3 % |
| Lepidoptera | 5 families | 3 % |
Pollinators of Eritrichium nanum (Boraginaceae)
Zoller et al. (2002) observed insects of 12 families visiting flowers of this cushion plant, which represents a polymorphic complex of related taxa growing at high altitudes in Eurasia and in the Rocky Mountains from Alaska to Colorado.
| Eritablerowichium nanum | ||
| Insect group | Pollination | |
| Diptera | 5 families | 87 % |
| Hymenoptera | 4 families | 8 % |
| Lepidoptera | 3 families | 7 % |
