Family tree of carnivorous plants

[kwende]

Has anybody done extensive research into the evolutionary history of carnivorous plants? That is, have fossilized carnivores (or plants believed to be carnivorous) been found? Have family trees (like that of homo sapiens) been mapped out with reasonable detail? What is the oldest known record of carnivorous plants being studied by the scientific community?

I have started wondering about this as of late. Anybody have any leads for me?

 

[kwende]

...ah, of course. After asking I decided to run a Google search and stumbled upon this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeamphora. And this too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivorous_plant#Evolution.

Still, I'm interested how much research has been done surrounding my previous questions. Is anybody on the board affiliated with anyone doing research in this area?

 

[mcmcnair]

The ICPS has tons of information about the evolution of cps. http://www.carnivorousplants.org/cp/EvolutionCaryophyllales.php

 

[kwende]

Thanks. This is EXACTLY what I'm looking for.

 

[Wire Man]

Funny you bring this up now. I'm looking into applying for graduate school for biological illustration, and one of my many ideas to build my portfolio was mapping the families/complexes of Nepenthes and possibly looking into how geography affected their evolution.