Kurt Ehrendorfer’s research while affiliated with BOKU University and other places

... Despite the documented close plant-pollinator relationship in this group, however, there is evidence that some of these species hybridize with each other, especially closely related or sympatric species. Despite the selective attraction of pollinators, nonlegitimate pollination does occur, and hybrids can sometimes be found ( Stebbins and Ferlan, 1956 ;Danesch and Danesch, 1972 ;Danesch et al., 1975 ;Ehrendorfer, 1980 ). Several hybrids have been described for Ophrys (see Pedersen and Faurholdt, 2007 ) and for several species, a hybridogenic origin has been proposed ( Paulus and Gack, 1990a ;Paulus and Gack, 1999 ;Devey et al., 2008 ) concurrently with the description of a great number of newly named species ( Delforge, 2001 ;Tyteca et al., 2003 ;Kreutz et al., 2007 ;Lowe, 2010 ;Lowe, 2011 ). Orchids off er a unique system for studying evolution, improving and integrating our knowledge of plant-pollinator interactions, and testing their eff ects upon diversifi cation. ...

Reference:

Marked hybridization and introgression in Ophrys sect. Pseudophrys in the western Iberian Peninsula