What Are the Best Pollinator Candidates for : Do Not Forget Hoverflies and Flies.

Abel. is an important woody oil plant, and its pollination success is essential for oil production. We conducted this study to select the best pollinator candidates for using principal component analysis and multi-attribute decision-making. Field observations of the flower-visiting characteristics of candidate pollinators were conducted at three sites. The insect species that visited flowers did not considerably differ between regions or time periods. However, the proportion of each species recorded did vary. We recorded eleven main candidates from two orders and six families at the three sites. The pollen amount carried by was significantly higher than that of other insects. However, the visit frequency and body length of were smaller than those of . Statistical analysis showed that is the best candidate pollinator; is a good candidate pollinator; , and were ordinary candidate pollinators; and four fly species, , and were classified as inefficient candidate pollinators. Our study shows that flies and hoverflies play an important role in the pollination system. Given the global decline in bee populations, the role of flies should also be considered in seed production.