diversity Article Citizen Science Confirms the Rarity of Fruit Bat Pollination of Baobab (Adansonia digitata) Flowers in Southern Africa Peter J. Taylor 1,* , Catherine Vise 1,2, Macy A. Krishnamoorthy 3, Tigga Kingston 3 and Sarah Venter 4 1 School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa;
[email protected] 2 Wallace Dale Farm 727MS, PO Box 52, Louis Trichardt, Limpopo 0920, South Africa 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA;
[email protected] (M.A.K.);
[email protected] (T.K.) 4 School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +27-15-962-9326 Received: 8 February 2020; Accepted: 12 March 2020; Published: 19 March 2020 Abstract: The iconic African baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) has “chiropterophilous” flowers that are adapted for pollination by fruit bats. Although bat pollination of baobabs has been documented in east and west Africa, it has not been confirmed in southern Africa where it has been suggested that hawk moths (Nephele comma) may also be involved in baobab pollination. We used a citizen science approach to monitor baobab tree and flower visitors from dusk till midnight at 23 individual baobab trees over 27 nights during the flowering seasons (November–December) of 2016 and 2017 in northern South Africa and southern Zimbabwe (about 1650 visitors). Insect visitors frequently visited baobab flowers, including hawk moths, but, with one exception in southeastern Zimbabwe, no fruit bats visited flowers.