Question

Pollination by snail and slug is called _________ pollination.
a. Entomophilous
b. Malacophilous
c. Ornithophilous
d. Chiropterophilous

Answer 1

Hint Pollination is the process that occurs in the plants and during this process several pollinating agents help like air, insects, birds, etc. Each pollination which has been done by the different pollinating agent has different types of names or terms. In this question, this concept of naming has been used.

Complete answer:
Pollination is the process occurring in the plants and the main goal of this process is to produce offspring for the next generation. It is a process in which pollen grains are been transferred from the male sex organ in plants called anther to the female sex organ called stigma.

The successful completion of this process depends upon some pollinating agents. There are different types of pollinating agents present in the environment. Some agents are commonly seen as birds, insects, and air. One of the agents which are also responsible for the pollination is snails and slugs.

The pollination in which snails and slugs help in doing pollination is called Malacophilous and the flower which got pollinated by the snails and slug are called malacophilous. So the correct option for this question is the second option that is (b) Malacophilous.

The first option given is the Entomophilous, which is the process of pollination done by the pollinating agents called insects, so this option is wrong and eliminated. The third option is the ornithophilous, which is the type of pollination where the pollinating agent is birds. Hence this option is also not correct, the next option is chiropterophilous which is the pollination done by the pollinating agent called bats.

Note: Squirrels, bats, snails, and many more are the common pollinating birds. The plants that are pollinated by birds are more colorful, mostly red, and produce a good amount of nectar. The plants pollinated by snails and slug have a long period of blooming flowers so that it can facilitate access of pollen to snails.