Hammer time!
It turns out that they were all of 30 meters away from me, but that small distance meant that a whole new set of
plants were available for our enjoyment. This is a nifty little hammer orchid
(Drakaea glyptodon) that has the common name of King-in-his-carriage. This species
mimics female Thynnid wasps. Males are attracted by the orchid and land on it, believing it to be
a female wasp (the females are flightless, by the way). The male wasp is hoping to grab the female and fly off with it,
but instead, a sticky pollen packet from the orchid is attached to his body.
If this male is tricked a second time, on a different flower, the sticky pollen packet pollinates the plant.
The flower mimics the female wasp so well that it even produces a pheromone similar to the wasp pheromone!
