The Striped Squirrel (Tamiops swinhoei hainanus) as a Nectar Robber of Ginger (Alpinia kwangsiensis)

Nectar robbing by squirrels is reported for the first time in the striped squirrel (Tamiops swinhoei hainanus), which was found robbing nectar from ginger plants (Alpinia kwangsiensis) in tropical forests of south Yunnan, China. We describe the behavior of squirrels visiting inflorescences, and we c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBiotropica Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 633 - 636
Main Authors Deng, Xao-Bao, Ren, Pan-Yu, Gao, Jiang-Yun, Li, Qing-Jun
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation 01.12.2004
Subjects
Alpinia
Alpinia kwangsiensis
China
flower visitation
Flowers
Fruit set
ginger
Inflorescences
Nectar
nectar feeding
nectar plants
nectar robber
Nectar robbing
plant damage
Plants
plant–animal interactions
Pollinating insects
Robbers
rodent
Rodents
Sciuridae
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
squirrel
Squirrels
Tamiops swinhoei hainanus
tropical forest; Xishuangbanna
wildlife food habits
China
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Summary:Nectar robbing by squirrels is reported for the first time in the striped squirrel (Tamiops swinhoei hainanus), which was found robbing nectar from ginger plants (Alpinia kwangsiensis) in tropical forests of south Yunnan, China. We describe the behavior of squirrels visiting inflorescences, and we compare the fruit set of inflorescences visited by squirrels with that of inflorescences not subject to nectar robbing by squirrels. Most of the styles of robbed flowers were damaged and the affected plants exhibited reduced fruit set.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0006-3606
1744-7429
1744-7429
DOI:10.1646/1603