It's a stinky feast!

Description:

Attribution: Ong Poh Teck (Forest Research Institute Malaysia).Its a stinky feast! Blowflies just cant resist the attraction of the orchid Captured during an orchid pollination observation in Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia, this photograph shows the orchid flowers of Bulbophyllum lasianthum Lindl surrounded by flies. During anthesis, these attractive purplish-red flowers emit a strong foul odour similar to that of carrion. The predominant species of flies found visiting and pollinating B. lasianthum was Chrysomyia megacephala Fabricius (Calliphoridae: Diptera), commonly known as blowflies. Both male and female blowflies are capable of pollinating the flowers of B. lasianthum. Some of the flies shown here actually have pollinia stuck on their backs as they happily work the flowers! Various fly species are extremely attracted to the flowers due to the stench as well as the carrion appearance of the flowers.Highly Commended in the BMC Ecology Image Competition 2012:BMC Ecology 2013, 13:6 doi:10.1186/1472-6785-13-6www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6785/13/6