Insects Pollinating the Parsnip Pastinaca sativa L. (Apiaceae) in Moscow Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the ability of the parsnip Pastinaca sativa, a furanocoumarin producing plant, to attract the same insect species as Sosnowsky’s hogweed Heracleum sosnowskyi, the most dangerous weed widespread in Russia. A total of 46 species of pollinating insects from the orders Hymenoptera (3 species), Hemiptera (2), Coleoptera (10), and Diptera (31 species) were recorded on P. sativa. Most of the species in the latter order belonged to the families Tachinidae (6 species), Anthomyiidae (6), Calliphoridae (4), and Syrphidae (4 species). About a half of the insect species pollinating P. sativa were also found on other umbellifers, including the native plants Anthriscus sylvestris, Aegopodium podagraria, Angelica sylvestris, the cultivated species Anethum graveolens, Petroselinum crispum, Carum carvi, Coriandrum sativum, Levisticum officinale, and the invasive weed H. sosnowskyi. The pollinators did not reveal any distinct preference for the corolla color (yellow or white), the plant height (from 30 cm to 2 m) or the umbel diameter (from 8 to 30 cm). All the recorded insects can be divided into the following groups: those found on P. sativa and on wild umbellifers (6 species); those found on P. sativa and cultivated umbellifers (4 species); those found on P. sativa and Heracleum sosnowskyi (4 species); those found on many species of Apiaceae (10 species); those recorded only on P. sativa (24 species).