Petite pollinators: Tree raises its own crop of couriers

A tropical tree creates insect nurseries in its buds for miniscule pollinators, say German scientists. This novel strategy relies on thrips, insects rarely considered pollinators.

THRIPS NURSERY. Leaflike shields covering flower parts in a male trees blooms offer shelter for thrips (arrows). Moog

Darwin dismissed thrips as annoyances that fouled his pollination experiments, and since then biologists studying pollination havent paid much attention to this dot of a creature.