A flower at night - a timelapse of Cereus fernambucensis

Cereus fernambucensis (the "mandacaru-da-praia") is a species of cactus  exclusive to Brazil that occurs in coastal areas of Pará and Bahia to São Paulo; there are also collections in Minas Gerais. This species occurs in restingas and rocky areas.

The flower of this species is nocturnal (it opens at night) and pollination is done by moths.  Flowers are large (about 25 cm long), opening at night and closing in the morning. They open only once and then wither. 

The video was taken with a catch that lasted about 15 hours, from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. the following morning. The plant is a Cereus cultivated in pot, but coming from Mongaguá, in the state of São Paulo shore, Brazil. Note the tepals opening (pink or white sterile elements) and the movement of the stigma and style (see image below to understand these terms). In the video you can see beetles, flies and hemiptera landing on the flower.

There are some cacti videos with nocturnal flowers on youtube (like Ephyphyllum - the queen of the night). But this is the first video of Cereus fernambucensis!

The music is a "Lundu" (a folk Brazilian style of music) collected by Martius and Spix in the XIX Century, in their famous expedition to Brazil (1827-1820) - an idea of our pos-graduate student Laura Affonso.

Credits: Vinícius Moreno Godoi (production and video editing), Milton Groppo & Cintia Erbert (plant providing and botanical information). Special thanks to Daniela Zappi for confirm plant identification and André Benedito for his help in formating the post.

(bibliography: Locatelli, E. & Machado, I. C. 1999. Floral biology of Cereus fernambucensis: a sphingophilous cactus of restinga. Bradleya 17: 86-94. Cactaceae in Flora do Brasil 2020 em construção. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Disponível em: <http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/floradobrasil/FB70>. Acess in: 10 Oct 2017)

Our set - Ribeirão Preto - Brazil

Cereus fermanbucensis - flower (front view) 

Flower of Cereus fernambucensis, with some floral parts highlighted

Polinização: Para que servem as flores?/ Pollination: what are flowers for?

No dia 25 de maio de 2017 foi apresentada a palestra "Polinização: para que servem as flores?" na Casa da Ciência, um programa de divulgação científica mantido pelo Hemocentro de Ribeirão Preto. Foi uma ótima oportunidade para mostrar para estudantes do Ensino Médio de diferentes escolas de Ribeirão Preto e cidades vizinhas como as flores foram modificadas ao longo da evolução para otimizar o processo de polinização.

Agradecimentos mais do que especiais à Dra. Carolina Ferreira (Departamento de Biologia da FFCLRP-USP pela confecção e organização dos slides e pelo convite pela equipe da Casa da Ciência pelo convite!

Um vídeo com a palestra está aqui, no Canal da Casa da Ciência no Youtube.

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On May 25th, 2017 it was presented the lecture "Pollination: What are flowers for?" at the "Casa da Ciência, a program of scientific dissemination maintained by the Hemocentro of Ribeirão Preto. It was a great opportunity to show to high school students from different education nstitutions from Ribeirão Preto and neighboring cities how the flowers were modified throughout the evolution to optimize the pollination process.

Well deserved thanks to Dr. Carolina Ferreira (Department of Biology of FFCLRP-USP for the preparation and organization of the slides and the Casa da Ciência staff for inviting me.

A video with the talk (in Portuguese) is here, on the Casa da Ciência Channel in Youtube.

Polinização: Para que servem as flores?/Pollination: what are flowers for?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V01fWnqUu5w&t=217s

Darwin Day 2017 Ribeirão Preto!

O "Darwin Day RP" (RP - Ribeirão Preto, Brasil), é um evento organizado pelos alunos de pós-graduação do Departamento de Biologia (FFCLRP) da Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brasil. Dois Programas de Pós-Graduação estão envolvidos: o de Biologia Comparada o de Entomologia. O evento tem como objetivo discutir as idéias de Charles Darwin, assim como o seu legado no campo da Biologia.

O evento será realizado amanhã, 10 de maio, na Faculdade de Direito de Ribeirão Preto

Mais informações em:
https://www.facebook.com/darwindayrp2017/?fref=ts


The "Darwin Day RP" (RP - Ribeirão Preto, Brazil), is an event organized by the postgraduate students from the Department of Biology (FFCLRP),  University of São Paulo, Brazil. Two postgraduate programs from that Department are  the organizers: Comparative Biology and Entomology. The event aims discussing Charles Darwin´s ideas, as well as his legacy in the field of  Biology.

The event will be held tomorrow, May 10, in Ribeirão Preto Law School - USP, 

More information at:

https://www.facebook.com/darwindayrp2017/?fref=ts