The main objective of this work was to study aspects of pollination biology, behavior and frequency of flower visitors, reproduction and phenology of Jacquemontia nodiflora in Caatinga hiperxerófila, Petrolina, PE, from March 2004 to March 2005. The phenological data showed that the phenophases of budding, flowering and fruiting occurred mainly during the rainy season, while leaf senescence occured in the dry season, indicating the influence of precipitation in the process. The flowers are grouped in cymes, are small (10mm diameter), shallow-campanulate, white, odorless and secrete small amount of nectar (<1 µl). The anthesis is diurnal, occurring around 5 h 30 min, and the lifetime of the flower is only nine hours. Throughout the flowering, the flowers are visited by bees, wasps and flies, and the bees Apis mellifera, Trigona spinipes and Frieseomelitta doederleini are the most frequent visitors (47.7, 26.0 and 12.1% of total visits, respectively). The system of reproduction of J. nodiflora is facultatively autogamous, producing fruit by self-pollination (rates > 90%) and by cross-pollination (75.6%). Jacquemontia nodiflora can be considered as an important nectar source for medium and small bees, and A. mellifera, T. spinipes and F. doederleini were considered as pollinators of this species.
Caatinga; floral biology; pollinatiors; reproductive system
