During my studies of pine hawk-moths (Hyloicus pinastri) feeding on greater butterfly-orchids (Platanthera chlorantha); I observed that the initiation of the probing started mainly at the lowermost part of the inflorescence, visiting the flowers systematically upwards. Most likely the lowermost flower has the largest nectar production and longest life span compared with the uppermost flowers. I remember that I have read about this particular behavior in terms of optimal foraging, but I cannot recall which paper/book. Does anyone have references for this?
There is ample evidence of pollinators working upwards on inflorescences. Pyke (Pyke, G. H., Optimal foraging in hummingbirds: Testing the marginal value theorem, Am. Zool. 18, 739-752 (1978). Pyke GH (1978) Optimal foraging in bumblebees and coevolution with their plants. Oecologia (Berl) 36:281–293. Pyke GH (1979) Optimal foraging in bumblebees: rule of movement between flowers within inflorescences. Animal Behaviour 27:1167–1181) worked out the "movement rules" of pollinators on vertical inflorescences. Since then, many papers have explored the determinants of movement. Some have found association with nectar content (like Pyke), others have not found such relationship (for example Sarah A. Corbet et al 1981.Why do nectar-foraging bees and wasps work upwards on inflorescences? Oecologia 51:79-83).
Thank you Baenziger and Burques for all the suggestion of literature covering this topic.
I do not know if this will help or not. My wife worked for R T Yammamoto on tomato hornworm, Manduca sexta, in the early 1970s. One discovery was that the moths emerging from pupating in the ground chose their next host plant for egg laying by what ever leaves were present in the detritus that were in the correct family (Solanaceae). That is "the information was lost in the pupation process and then reprogrammed by what the tarsi touched first on emergence. In one instance the moth .apparently found no solanaceous plants and the larvae were found in Method North Carolina eating "mullin". (family Scrophulariaceae). But I do not know what other behavioral studies Dr, Yammamoto made, but Google Scholar lists some of his papers.
A more recent paper on the feeding of that species is:
Robert A. Ragusof1 and Mark A. Willi,2002.. Synergy between visual and olfactory cues in nectar feeding by naı̈ve hawkmoths, Manduca sexta. Volume 64, Issue 5, November 2002, Pages 685–695.
Notice that they made paper flowers. Maybe you could study their probing behavor by varying the design of artificial (say paper mache) flowers.
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