Entomophily

Insect pollinators such as bees have adaptations for their role, such as lapping or sucking mouthparts to take in nectar, and in some species also pollen baskets on their hind legs.

[2] Traits such as sapromyophily (emitting the odour of carrion to attract flies) have evolved independently in several unrelated angiosperm families.

[10] Wind and water pollination require the production of vast quantities of pollen because of the chancy nature of its deposition.

The ideal pollinating insect is hairy (so that pollen adheres to it), and spends time exploring the flower so that it comes into contact with the reproductive structures.

[15] Inflorescences pollinated by beetles tend to be flat with open corollas or small flowers clustered in a head with multiple, projecting anthers that shed pollen readily.

[11] The flowers are often green or pale-coloured, and heavily scented, often with fruity or spicy aromas, but sometimes with odours of decaying organic matter.

Some, like the giant water lily, include traps designed to retain the beetles in contact with the reproductive parts for longer periods.

More specialised flies like syrphids and Tabanids can visit more advanced blooms, but their purpose is to nourish themselves, and any transfer of pollen from one flower to another happens haphazardly.

The small size of many flies is often made up for by their abundance, however they are unreliable pollinators as they may bear incompatible pollen, and lack of suitable breeding habitats may limit their activities.

[18] Other bees are nectar thieves and bite their way through the corolla in order to raid the nectary, in the process bypassing the reproductive structures.

In the common fig, the inflorescence is a syconium, formed by an enlarged, fleshy, hollow receptacle with multiple ovaries on the inner surface.

A female wasp enters through a narrow aperture, fertilizes these pistillate flowers, and lays its eggs in some ovaries, with galls being formed by the developing larvae.

[20] The word is artificially derived from the Greek: εντομο-, entomo-[21] "cut in pieces, segmented", hence "insect"; and φίλη, phile, "loved".