The flying duck orchid pictured above, Paracaleana nigrita, from Denmark in Western Australia, uses sexual deception to attract male wasps. The insects attempt to mate with a part of the flower that is shaped like a female wasp.



Once the wasp is inside, a sophisticated mechanism catapults it onto the reproductive parts of the orchid. In doing so, the wasp brushes past sticky bundles of pollen, called pollinia, which become attached so that it can fertilise the next orchid it visits.



(Image: Christian Ziegler)