TY - JOUR TI - Hawkmoths evaluate scenting flowers with the tip of their proboscis AU - Haverkamp, Alexander AU - Yon, Felipe AU - Keesey, Ian W AU - Mißbach, Christine AU - Koenig, Christopher AU - Hansson, Bill S AU - Baldwin, Ian T AU - Knaden, Markus AU - Kessler, Danny A2 - Dicke, Marcel VL - 5 PY - 2016 DA - 2016/05/05 SP - e15039 C1 - eLife 2016;5:e15039 DO - 10.7554/eLife.15039 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15039 AB - Pollination by insects is essential to many ecosystems. Previously, we have shown that floral scent is important to mediate pollen transfer between plants (Kessler et al., 2015). Yet, the mechanisms by which pollinators evaluate volatiles of single flowers remained unclear. Here, Nicotiana attenuata plants, in which floral volatiles have been genetically silenced and its hawkmoth pollinator, Manduca sexta, were used in semi-natural tent and wind-tunnel assays to explore the function of floral scent. We found that floral scent functions to increase the fitness of individual flowers not only by increasing detectability but also by enhancing the pollinator's foraging efforts. Combining proboscis choice tests with neurophysiological, anatomical and molecular analyses we show that this effect is governed by newly discovered olfactory neurons on the tip of the moth's proboscis. With the tip of their tongue, pollinators assess the advertisement of individual flowers, an ability essential for maintaining this important ecosystem service. KW - Manduca sexta KW - Nicotiana attenuata KW - pollination KW - floral scent KW - olfaction KW - proboscis JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -