Apart from those more well-known pollinators there are a couple of other insects that also contribute to pollination.
These species are not often considered as pollinators mainly because they are not as efficient or obvious as the bees and hoverflies but nonetheless they do carry out pollination though to a much lesser degree.
Beetles
Some beetles eat pollen and nectar while others feed on the flowers themselves but either can, and usually do, transfer pollen from one flower to another during their feeding.
The flower beetles, soldier beetles and darkling beetles are amongst the few families of beetles that do help with pollination and there are dozens of species found locally that help in this way.
Sulphur Beetle (Cteniopus sulphureus).© Tim Ransom
More content about Beetles::
Black Oil Beetle Meloe proscarabaeus – Species Spotlight
Ants
Pollination of flowers by ants is generally not a very common occurrence but it does happen and even though no plants in Jersey are known to be dependent upon ants for their pollination there are examples from Europe and beyond of certain plants that are, or are considered to be, so more research may be needed to understand to what extent the ants in Jersey contribute to pollination.
Generally ants are of course not very efficient pollinators due to their general lack of hairs for pollen to stick to and they are not often attracted to flowers so their contribution locally may not be significant but there are an awful lot of them out there so if any do then it may be they help with pollination more than we are aware of at present.
Ant (Temnothorax unifasciatus).© Tim Ransom
Click the links below to learn more about the other main groups of insect pollinators:
Butterflies & Moths
Bees
Wasps
Hoverflies
