What pollinators see does not match what they smell: Absence of color-fragrance association in the deceptive orchid Ionopsis utricularioides Author Aguiar, João Marcelo Robazzi Bignelli Valente * & Programa de P´os-Graduaçao ˜ em Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, 13083 - 865, Brazil Author Ferreira, Gabriel de Souza Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (HEP) at the Eberhard Karls Universit ¨ at Tübingen, Sigwartstr. 10, 72076, Tübingen, Germany Author Sanches, Patricia Alessandra Universidade de S ˜ ao Paulo, Escola Superior de Agricultura “ Luiz de Queiroz ” (ESALQ), Departamento de Entomologia e Acarologia, Piracicaba, SP, 13418 - 900, Brazil & Department of Environmental Systems Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), 8092, Zürich, Switzerland Author Simões Bento, Mauricio José Universidade de São Paulo, Escola Superior de Agricultura “ Luiz de Queiroz ” (ESALQ), Departamento de Entomologia e Acarologia, Piracicaba, SP, 13418 - 900, Brazil Author Sazima, Marlies Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, 13083 - 865, Brazil text Phytochemistry 2021 112591 2021-02-28 182 1 10 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2020.112591 journal article 10.1016/j.phytochem.2020.112591 1873-3700 8291529 2.1. What is the scent composition of I. utricularioides ? Eighteen different volatile components were found in the flowers of I. utricularioides . Floral volatile composition and concentrations of each compound varied between individuals ( Table 1 ), as also recorded for several other deceptive orchids (Delle-Vedove et al., 2011; Dormont et al, 2014 , 2019 ; Juillet and Scopece, 2010 ; Salzmann et al., 2007a , 2007b ; Salzmann and Schiestl, 2007 ). As expected by the bee-pollination deceptive mechanism of I. utricularioides ( Aguiar and Pansarin, 2019 ) , many compounds in the orchid’ s fragrance are known to be important in pollinators’ attraction in other bee-pollinated plants, such as phenylacetaldehyde ( Knauer and Schiestl, 2015 ; Theis, 2006; Waelti et al., 2008) and limonene, one of the most common volatiles emitted by flowers ( Benelli et al., 2017 ; Erasto and Viljoen, 2008 ; Knudsen et al., 1993 ). β- ocimene, the major compound found in the fragrance of I. utricularioides , with an average emission of 52.6 ± 13.7 ng μl 1 (mean ± S.E.) and occurring in 80% of the sampled individuals ( Table 1 ), is also very common in rewarding flowers pollinated by insects (Farr´e-Armengol et al., 2017; Knudsen et al., 2006 ). Farr´e-Armengol et al. (2017) proposed an interesting hypothesis that, given its recurrence and abundance in floral fragrances, β- ocimene would act as a general global floral signal to many plants in a community. In this context, other minor compounds could ensure the scent specificity needed for pollination (Farr´e-Armengol et al., 2017), as pollinators, especially bees, can detect minor changes in floral fragrance composition ( Locatelli et al., 2016 ; Raguso, 2008 ). In the generalized food deceptive pollination context of I. utricularioides ( Aguiar and Pansarin, 2019 ) , β- ocimene could, thus, act as a global sign to attract pollinators, and bees could also perceive the variability derived from the other minor compounds of this orchid’ s scent. However, further behavioral or electrophysiological studies are needed to corroborate this hypothesis.