Morphological Traits Do Not Explain Interaction Patterns in a Hermit Hummingbird–Plant Network

Morphological matching between pollinators and flowers is often proposed as a key mechanism structuring plant–pollinator interactions. Hermit hummingbirds (Phaethornithinae) are frequently considered specialized pollinators due to their diversity of bill morphologies and their association with tubular flowers. However, whether these traits actually structure interaction patterns at the community level remains unclear. We investigated hummingbird–plant interactions in a tropical rainforest of the Colombian Pacific by integrating morphometric measurements of hummingbirds and flowers with field observations of floral visitation and pollen load analyses collected between May and November 2011 in the Microcuenca Quebrada Pericos conservation area. Despite pronounced morphological variation among both hummingbirds and plants, interaction frequencies were not related to bill–corolla length or curvature mismatches. Likewise, hummingbird bill traits were not associated with the floral traits of visited plants, and body mass did not explain differences in resource breadth. In contrast, pollen loads revealed additional plant–hummingbird interactions not detected through field observations, indicating that direct observations underestimate the realized interaction network. Overall, hermit hummingbirds interacted with a wide range of floral morphologies, showing substantial overlap in resource use among species. These results indicate that interactions in this community are not structured by strict morphological matching, but instead reflect flexible foraging behaviour and variation in resource availability.