1/6/25 - For this week's #wildflowerhour #OrchidChallenge I'm going to choose one of our highlights from the @mariposanature.bsky.social #Orchids of Kent tour that I co-led with @dunnjons.bsky.social
Pseudocopulation in action; a male Sand Wasp (Argogorytes) on a Fly #Orchid (Ophrys insectifera)
Pseudocopulation in action; a male Sand Wasp (Argogorytes) on a Fly #Orchid (Ophrys insectifera)
June 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
1/6/25 - For this week's #wildflowerhour #OrchidChallenge I'm going to choose one of our highlights from the @mariposanature.bsky.social #Orchids of Kent tour that I co-led with @dunnjons.bsky.social
Pseudocopulation in action; a male Sand Wasp (Argogorytes) on a Fly #Orchid (Ophrys insectifera)
Pseudocopulation in action; a male Sand Wasp (Argogorytes) on a Fly #Orchid (Ophrys insectifera)
On an orchid trip in Kent a few weeks ago we were lucky to see pseudocopulation of a Late Spider orchid by a bee!
#PollinatorPals
#WildflowerHour
#PollinatorPals
#WildflowerHour
June 21, 2026 at 7:23 PM
On an orchid trip in Kent a few weeks ago we were lucky to see pseudocopulation of a Late Spider orchid by a bee!
#PollinatorPals
#WildflowerHour
#PollinatorPals
#WildflowerHour
A collection of bee orchids I’ve encountered. Bee orchids mimic the look and smell of female insects to trick male insects into trying to mate with them: thrusting against the flowers, the male insects pick up and deliver pollen without reward (a process known as pseudocopulation).
March 13, 2025 at 8:21 PM
A collection of bee orchids I’ve encountered. Bee orchids mimic the look and smell of female insects to trick male insects into trying to mate with them: thrusting against the flowers, the male insects pick up and deliver pollen without reward (a process known as pseudocopulation).
31/5/26 - It has been a joy to lead our annual #OrchidsOfKent tour alongside @dunnjons.bsky.social. My highlight was catching #pseudocopulation in action for the second year running; this time a Eucera bee on a Late Spider #Orchid (Ophrys fuciflora). For the #wildflowerhour #OrchidChallenge
May 31, 2026 at 6:00 PM
31/5/26 - It has been a joy to lead our annual #OrchidsOfKent tour alongside @dunnjons.bsky.social. My highlight was catching #pseudocopulation in action for the second year running; this time a Eucera bee on a Late Spider #Orchid (Ophrys fuciflora). For the #wildflowerhour #OrchidChallenge
A blog about PSEUDOCOPULATION in echinoderms! from years ago! #echinoday echinoblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/echi...
September 9, 2025 at 3:45 PM
A blog about PSEUDOCOPULATION in echinoderms! from years ago! #echinoday echinoblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/echi...
"Pseudoplacenta" in male seahorses & female-female "pseudocopulation" in whiptail lizards?
"Binary framework can interfere w/ understanding evolution of nonbinary bio phenomena. Inserting prefix “pseudo”masks fact that evolutionary processes regularly produce gender-bending anatomies & behaviors"
"Binary framework can interfere w/ understanding evolution of nonbinary bio phenomena. Inserting prefix “pseudo”masks fact that evolutionary processes regularly produce gender-bending anatomies & behaviors"
New substack. Hope you enjoy it. sterlinga.substack.com/p/what-do-xy...
June 2, 2026 at 9:31 AM
"Pseudoplacenta" in male seahorses & female-female "pseudocopulation" in whiptail lizards?
"Binary framework can interfere w/ understanding evolution of nonbinary bio phenomena. Inserting prefix “pseudo”masks fact that evolutionary processes regularly produce gender-bending anatomies & behaviors"
"Binary framework can interfere w/ understanding evolution of nonbinary bio phenomena. Inserting prefix “pseudo”masks fact that evolutionary processes regularly produce gender-bending anatomies & behaviors"
Subfam. Orchidoideae (#Orchidaceae) is worldwide & mostly terrestrial. It includes Ophrys (with their pseudocopulation pollination) & Habenaria (ca. 900 spp). Subfam. has no obvious morphological synapomorphies; phylogenetic hypothesis is molecular. This is H. medusa from Malesia. #botany 🌾🧪🌱
January 1, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Subfam. Orchidoideae (#Orchidaceae) is worldwide & mostly terrestrial. It includes Ophrys (with their pseudocopulation pollination) & Habenaria (ca. 900 spp). Subfam. has no obvious morphological synapomorphies; phylogenetic hypothesis is molecular. This is H. medusa from Malesia. #botany 🌾🧪🌱
PSEUDOCOPULATION! Archaster angulatus a commonly encountered sand star in Australia- undergoes this "stacking" behavior to presumably enhance reproductive success-if memory serves its alternating genders. this is QUITE a stack! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Archaster angulatus
Archaster angulatus from Cockburn, WA, Australia on January 29, 2020 at 08:01 PM by henrycarrick. Observed at night in 9m of water on silty/sandy bottom nearby shallow Posidonia australis meadows...
www.inaturalist.org
September 9, 2025 at 3:05 PM
PSEUDOCOPULATION! Archaster angulatus a commonly encountered sand star in Australia- undergoes this "stacking" behavior to presumably enhance reproductive success-if memory serves its alternating genders. this is QUITE a stack! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Une petite ruse aux grands effets..L'Ophrys abeille, une orchidée européenne,attire en produisant une odeur qui imite l'odeur de l'abeille femelle.. l'abeille mâle Le transfert de pollen se produit pendant la pseudocopulation qui s'ensuit.
photo:Joachim Lutz
photo:Joachim Lutz
August 11, 2026 at 8:11 AM
Une petite ruse aux grands effets..L'Ophrys abeille, une orchidée européenne,attire en produisant une odeur qui imite l'odeur de l'abeille femelle.. l'abeille mâle Le transfert de pollen se produit pendant la pseudocopulation qui s'ensuit.
photo:Joachim Lutz
photo:Joachim Lutz
Pseudocopulation in motion! Archaster typicus from Singapore www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Indo-Pacific Sand Star (Archaster typicus)
Indo-Pacific Sand Star from Сингапурский пролив, Сингапур, SG, SG on November 4, 2017 at 03:18 PM by borh borh
www.inaturalist.org
September 9, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Pseudocopulation in motion! Archaster typicus from Singapore www.inaturalist.org/observations...
It's only PSEUDOcopulation. No one's jamming their penises into anyone's holes, just reaching over to your neighbor and politely offering them some sperm.
June 17, 2026 at 2:41 AM
It's only PSEUDOcopulation. No one's jamming their penises into anyone's holes, just reaching over to your neighbor and politely offering them some sperm.
Pelargonium tricolor flowers have raised, shiny, dark spots, typical of pollination by the bee fly Megapalpus capensis (Bombyliidae). The spots mimic female bee flies. Males pollinate the flowers while trying to mate. Pollination by pseudocopulation 📷: Jenny Potgieter CCBYNC4
2/2
2/2
July 2, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Pelargonium tricolor flowers have raised, shiny, dark spots, typical of pollination by the bee fly Megapalpus capensis (Bombyliidae). The spots mimic female bee flies. Males pollinate the flowers while trying to mate. Pollination by pseudocopulation 📷: Jenny Potgieter CCBYNC4
2/2
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Ophrys cretica (#Orchidaceae, Orchidoideae) is one of the Mediterranean orchids pollinated by pseudocopulation: Flowers look, feel & smell like female bees & are pollinated when eager males try to mate with them. One of the strangest pollination systems in Plants! 📷: Adrien Chateignier CCBYNCND2
January 1, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Ophrys cretica (#Orchidaceae, Orchidoideae) is one of the Mediterranean orchids pollinated by pseudocopulation: Flowers look, feel & smell like female bees & are pollinated when eager males try to mate with them. One of the strangest pollination systems in Plants! 📷: Adrien Chateignier CCBYNCND2
For #AnOrchidADay:
Downland Fly #Orchids, Ophrys insectifera.
Is pollinated by male Digger wasps who try to mate with the interflorance, thinking it looks and smells like a female.
Pseudocopulation.
Downland Fly #Orchids, Ophrys insectifera.
Is pollinated by male Digger wasps who try to mate with the interflorance, thinking it looks and smells like a female.
Pseudocopulation.
February 7, 2025 at 7:36 AM
For #AnOrchidADay:
Downland Fly #Orchids, Ophrys insectifera.
Is pollinated by male Digger wasps who try to mate with the interflorance, thinking it looks and smells like a female.
Pseudocopulation.
Downland Fly #Orchids, Ophrys insectifera.
Is pollinated by male Digger wasps who try to mate with the interflorance, thinking it looks and smells like a female.
Pseudocopulation.
Maybe he is part barnacle
April 19, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Maybe he is part barnacle
Caleana major (Large duck orchid) near Genoa, VIC. Their unique shape allows for pollination thru pseudocopulation by small wasps (the ants here are 'farming' the aphids on the stems for their sugar-rich fluids - rather than pollinating the flowers) #orchids #ozplants #inthefield #nature
November 8, 2023 at 6:56 AM
Caleana major (Large duck orchid) near Genoa, VIC. Their unique shape allows for pollination thru pseudocopulation by small wasps (the ants here are 'farming' the aphids on the stems for their sugar-rich fluids - rather than pollinating the flowers) #orchids #ozplants #inthefield #nature
Love in the sand! More pseudocopulation with Archaster typicus! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Indo-Pacific Sand Star (Archaster typicus)
Indo-Pacific Sand Star from Southern Islands, Singapur on December 13, 2016 by Monique Cordeiro
www.inaturalist.org
September 9, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Love in the sand! More pseudocopulation with Archaster typicus! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
For the ultimate in false advertising & floral fakery look no further than Ophrys species (#Orchidaceae). The flowers mimic female bees. The flowers are pollinated when male bees try to mate with them. It’s called #pollination by pseudocopulation. #deceit 📷: O. apifera, Matt Lavin CCBYSA2
#Botany 🌾
#Botany 🌾
September 30, 2023 at 3:48 PM
For the ultimate in false advertising & floral fakery look no further than Ophrys species (#Orchidaceae). The flowers mimic female bees. The flowers are pollinated when male bees try to mate with them. It’s called #pollination by pseudocopulation. #deceit 📷: O. apifera, Matt Lavin CCBYSA2
#Botany 🌾
#Botany 🌾
Some orchids are pollinated by pseudocopulation—they encourage male insects to mate with the flower—and there’s at least one orchid genus that is pollinated by “pseudopredation”. It has flowers that mimic large spiders and attract predatory wasps.
May 16, 2026 at 11:22 AM
Some orchids are pollinated by pseudocopulation—they encourage male insects to mate with the flower—and there’s at least one orchid genus that is pollinated by “pseudopredation”. It has flowers that mimic large spiders and attract predatory wasps.
This is Lepanthes caritensis (#Orchidaceae). Orchids this small (& growing as epiphytes in trees) are poorly studied, but Lepanthes is believed to be pollinated by fungus gnats that engage in pseudocopulation. The male #flies attempt to mate with the flowers & transfer pollen. #Botany 🌾🧪
January 30, 2024 at 12:06 PM
Also: pseudocopulation!
December 5, 2024 at 3:05 AM
Also: pseudocopulation!
In Hong Kong! The Indo-Pacific Archaster typicus MORE #pseudocopulation! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Indo-Pacific Sand Star (Archaster typicus)
Indo-Pacific Sand Star from 烏洲 on July 15, 2025 at 07:15 AM by Agnes Trekker
www.inaturalist.org
September 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
In Hong Kong! The Indo-Pacific Archaster typicus MORE #pseudocopulation! www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Can we start telling people who use the phrase "pseudocopulation" that it only counts as such if it's their mom? (metaphorical, gender neutral)
December 13, 2024 at 2:34 PM
Can we start telling people who use the phrase "pseudocopulation" that it only counts as such if it's their mom? (metaphorical, gender neutral)