pollinivore

pol·lin·i·vore
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UK/pɒˈlɪnɪvɔː(ɹ)/US/pɑˈlɪnəvɔːɹ/

noun

Any animal that feeds on pollen; a palynivore.

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Scrabble 16

Meanings

nounpollinivore (plural pollinivores)

plural pollinivores

  1. biologyAny animal that feeds on pollen; a palynivore.

    Vittatina-type pollen grain from the gut of another pollinivore, Sojanidelia floralis Rasn., from the same locality, x1 200.

    1997 May, Valentin A. Krassilov, “Environments”, in S. Golovach, L. Penev, editors, Angiosperm Origins: Morphological and Ecological Aspects, Sofia, Bulgaria: Pensoft Publishers, →ISBN, image caption, page 116
    4 more examples

    Insects visiting flowers of H. spinosa can be divided into two guilds: nectarivores (small flies and ants) and pollinivores (bees and hoverflies), which differ in pollination attributes.

    1999, Ecology Abstracts, volume 25, Bethesda, Md.: Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 107

    Adult pollen feeding is also highly probable for a number of Mesozoic polyphagan beetles (e.g., elaterids, buprestids, some cleroids) and some cupedoid archostematans. Thus by the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous the pollinivore guild was probably rich and diverse.

    2006, V. V. Zherikhin, “General Features of Insect History. Ecological History of Terrestrial Insects.”, in Alexandr P[avlovich] Rasnitsyn, Donald L. J. Quicke, editors, History of Insects, New York, N.Y.: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →ISBN, page 353, column 1

    Bats have a wide range of eating habits. There are species that feed on insects (insectivores), fruits (frugivores), vertebrates (carnivores), pollen and nectar (pollinivores/nectar-feeding), and blood (hematophages).

    2014, Gerardo Ceballos, Joaquín Arroyo Cabrales, David Vasquez, “Order Chiroptera”, in Gerardo Ceballos, editor, Mammals of Mexico, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 667

    During the same time that A[pis] m[ellifera] adansonii encounters on flowers were registered, we noted the type of floral products collected by this bee. This parameter was measured to determine if A. m. adansonii is strictly a pollinivore, nectarivore or pollinivore and nectarivore. This could give us an idea of its implication as a cross-pollinator of G[ossypium] hirsutum.

    2015, Mazi Sanda, “Foraging and Pollination Behaviour of Apis mellifera adansonii Latreille (Hymenoptera, Apidae) on Gossypium hirsutum L. (Malvaceae) Flowers at Dang (Naoundere, Cameroon)”, in Michel Fok, Ousmane Ndoye, Siaka Koné, editors, AGRAR-2013: 1st Conference of African Research on Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition. Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, June 4–6, 2013. Agriculture and the Challenges of Food and Nutrition in Africa: The Contributions of Research in the Cotton Zone = AGRAR-2013 : 1re conférence de la recherche africaine sur l'agriculture, l'alimentation et la nutrition. Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, 4–6 juin 2013. L'agriculture face aux défis de l'alimentation et de la nutrition en Afrique : quels apports de la recherche dans les pays cotonniers, Gembloux, Belgium: Les Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux, →ISBN, page 164

    Synonyms: palynivore

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAny animal that feeds on pollen; a palynivore.

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Origin

  1. Latinpollen, pollinis
  2. Englishpollinivore

From oblique stem of Latin pollen, pollinis + -i- + -vore.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pollinivore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollinivore

MLA

“pollinivore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollinivore. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pollinivore,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pollinivore.

Source: pollinivore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.