Editing Pollinator (section)

==== Other insects ====
[[File:Unidentified Scoliidae foraging 2012 02 26 3034s.jpg|thumb|A [[Scoliid wasp]] (''Scolia chrysotricha'') foraging]]
Many insects other than bees accomplish pollination by visiting flowers for nectar or pollen, or commonly both. Many do so adventitiously, but the most important pollinators are specialists for at least parts of their life cycles for at least certain functions.

Prominent among Hymenoptera other than bees are wasps, especially [[Crabronidae]], [[Cuckoo wasp|Chrysididae]], [[Ichneumonidae]], [[Sphecidae]] and [[Vespidae]].<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last=Borchardt |first=Kate E. |last2=Holthaus |first2=Danielle |last3=Soto Méndez |first3=Paola A. |last4=Toth |first4=Amy L. |date=2024 |title=Debunking wasp pollination: Wasps are comparable to bees in terms of plant interactions, body pollen and single‐visit pollen deposition |url=https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.13329 |journal=Ecological Entomology |language=en |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=569–584 |doi=10.1111/een.13329 |issn=0307-6946|doi-access=free }}</ref> Some wasps are comparable to or even superior to some bees as pollinators.<ref name=":03" /> The term "[[pollen wasp]]s", in particular, is widely applied to the Masarinae, a [[Taxonomic rank|subfamily]] of the Vespidae; they are remarkable among [[hunting wasp|solitary wasp]]s in that they specialise in gathering pollen for feeding their larvae, carried internally and regurgitated into a mud chamber prior to oviposition. Also, males of many species of bees and wasps, though they do not gather pollen, rely on flowers as sources of energy (in the form of nectar) and also as territories for meeting fertile females that visit the flowers.

[[Beetle]]s of species that specialise in eating pollen, nectar, or flowers themselves, may be important cross-pollinators of some plants such as members of the [[Araceae]] and [[Zamiaceae]], that produce prodigious amounts of pollen. Others, for example the [[Hopliini]], specialise on flowers of [[Asteraceae]] and [[Aizoaceae]].

[[Thrips]] pollinate plants such as elderflower ''[[Sambucus nigra]]'' (Adoxaceae)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scott-Brown |first1=A.S. |last2=Arnold |first2=S.E.J. |last3=Kite |first3=G.C. |last4=Farrell |first4=I.F. |last5=Collins |first5=D.W. |last6=Stevenson |first6=P.C. |title=Mechanisms in mutualisms: A chemically mediated thrips pollination strategy in common elder |journal=Planta |year=2019 |volume=250 |issue=1 |pages=367–379 |doi=10.1007/s00425-019-03176-5|pmid=31069523 |s2cid=253886497 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2019Plant.250..367S }}</ref> and pointleaf manzanita, ''[[Arctostaphylos pungens]]'' ([[Ericaceae]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eliyahu |first=Dorit |last2=McCall |first2=Andrew C. |last3=Lauck |first3=Marina |last4=Trakhtenbrot |first4=Ana |last5=Bronstein |first5=Judith L. |date=2015 |title=Minute pollinators: The role of thrips (Thysanoptera) as pollinators of pointleaf manzanita, Arctostaphylos pungens (Ericaceae) |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4509684/ |journal=Journal of Pollination Ecology |volume=16 |pages=64–71 |issn=1920-7603 |pmc=4509684 |pmid=26207155}}</ref> [[Ant]]s also pollinate some kinds of flowers, but for the most part they are parasites, consuming nectar and/or pollen without conveying useful amounts of pollen to a stigma. Other insect orders are rarely pollinators, and then typically only incidentally (e.g., [[Hemiptera]] such as [[Anthocoridae]] and [[Miridae]]).

A strategy of great biological interest is that of sexual deception, where plants, generally [[Orchidaceae#Pollination|orchids, produce remarkably complex combinations of pheromonal attractants and physical mimicry]] that induce male [[Apidae|bees]] or [[Tiphiidae|wasps]] to attempt to mate with them, conveying [[Pollinium|pollinia]] in the process. Examples are known from all continents apart from [[Antarctica]], though Australia appears to be exceptionally rich in examples.<ref name=OrchSex>{{cite journal | vauthors = Mant JG, Schiestl FP, Peakall R, Weston PH | title = A phylogenetic study of pollinator conservatism among sexually deceptive orchids | journal = Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution | volume = 56 | issue = 5 | pages = 888–98 | date = May 2002 | pmid = 12093025 | doi = 10.1111/j.0014-3820.2002.tb01402.x | s2cid = 42724740 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Whole groups of plants, such as certain [[fynbos]] ''[[Moraea]]'' and ''[[Erica (plant)|Erica]]'' species produce flowers on sticky [[Peduncle (botany)|peduncles]] or with sticky [[Petal|corolla]] tubes that only permit access to flying pollinators, whether bird, bat, or insect.