It is no coincidence that flowers have evolved to display the same coloured petals in different continents, according to researchers in Australia and Sweden. Flowers in Australia and Europe have very similar petal colours, in spite of the Australian continent having separated from other continents 34 million years ago.
The common factor is the colour vision of bees, which is similar amongst bee species all over the world. Since bees’ trichromatic vision evolved before angiosperms, it appears that flowers have responded by developing petal colours that best take advantage of the pollination opportunities offered by bees.
The research strengthens a currently limited body of research on the relationships between plants and pollinators in Australia.
Read more at Monash University