Data from: Phenology is an important driver of hawkmoth-flower interactions in a megadiverse mountain area in Brazil

Hawkmoths and flowers exhibit striking examples of morphological specialisation, yet how these interactions are structured by different processes within communities still need to be better understood. In this study, we investigated the interactions between hawkmoths and flowers in the megadiverse, open-vegetation landscape of the Brazilian Campos Rupestres. Using a zoocentric approach based on pollen loads found on hawkmoth bodies, we assessed their interactions at the community-level. Our results revealed a modular network, with both hawkmoths and flowering plants organised into modules characterised by dissimilarity in their phenologies. This temporal segregation suggests species partitioning resources across the year. Furthermore, phenology better predicted interaction frequencies than abundances in the network. This study represents the first attempt to unravel the organisation of hawkmoth-flower interactions at a community level in this ancient, megadiverse Brazilian ecosystem, and we show that phenology is an important process determining interactions between flowers and specialized pollinators.