A pollinator of wild relatives of tomatoes, <i>Alocandrena porteri</i> will alight upon and then vibrate tomato flowers using its wing muscles.   hese plants have cleverly hidden their pollen in tubular anthers that are primarily released when buzzed by bees at a certain frequency.  Pollen is then released in a manner similar to how we get salt from a shaker and gathers on the bee’s hairy body.  The bee then uses its front and middle legs to groom this loose pollen and packs it onto the hind legs to be taken back to the nest. During this process some pollen undoubtedly gets transferred to the pistils of other flowers to effect pollination.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/54563451@N08">USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab</a> from Beltsville, Maryland, USA
2014-12-13 21:20
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/16019319701/">Alocandrena porteri, f, side, peru_2014-07-26-14.55.39 ZS PMax</a>