The filaments of the stamens of flowers of the dioecious genus Tovomita produce droplets of fragrant oils. In T. macrophylla it was observed that the oil is collected by male euglossine bees acting as pollinators. The bees settle down on the anthers of the male flowers and the stigmas of the female flowers respectively to collect the oil with their forebarsitarsi. The oil analyses of four species from the Reserva Ducke (Manaus, Central Amazonia) were investigated revealing that the composition is different for all four species, possibly to attract selectively different euglossine species and avoid interspecific cross-pollination. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.49410091012