Rank Species | Genus Mucuna Higher classification Deer-eye beans | |
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Similar Deer‑eye beans, Legumes, Mucuna urens, Commissaris's long‑tongued bat, Mucuna gigantea | ||
Mucuna holtonii is a species of plant in the bean family, which is pollinated by bats. Bats are able to detect if the flowers have nectar using echolocation. After an initial bat visit during which nectar is removed, the petals are arranged in a different manner (altering the shape of the flower). As a result, the unique "echo fingerprint" of petal arrangement informs the bat whether nectar is present or absent. This trait appears to have coevolved with bats.
References
Mucuna holtonii Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA