Nepenthes Albomarginata

[RamPuppy]

check it out...

http://www.nature.com/nsu/020101/020101-4.html

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Pretty cool! I never knew that! A Cp that is becoming a meal for it's meal!!!

 

[RamPuppy]

It is a pretty incredible thing isn't it?

It harkens to the Bical and it's symbiotic relationship with golden ants... pretty cool stuff...

 

[Dionaea Enthusiast]

That is really incredible! Amazing how a plant could evolve to do that. tx for the article, PLB(jk, I mean RP! :cheesy: )
Chris

 

[eplants02]

I found an article in New York Time talking about the N. Albomarginata. The article titled: A Plant Gets Picky. As you know this Nepenthes species only feed upon termites and nothing else. But you might be interested in. Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers, from Germany and Burnei, say that unlike other pitcher plants, for which the main attractant is nectar, N. Albomarginata most important feature appears to be a ring of tiny white hairs around the pitcher lip. One reasearcher noted that the hairs were missing from those pitcher that were filled up with termites. But theres more but I go to go.

 

[RamPuppy]

ummm... eplants? That is what the article was about that I linked to in the first post of this thread!

Pulsating Love Balls DE!!! SHAME!

(Edited by RamPuppy at 11

0 am on Jan. 11, 2002)

 

[eplants02]

But Rampuppy, did you know that at least 22 termites fall into the trap per minute?

 

[Dionaea Enthusiast]

Considering these findings, people who grow albomarginata should see if they can find termites to feed it, if it has evolved over eons to eat only this insect.
Chris

 

[greencrunch]

The termites in the article looked just like ants so I wonder if you could buy dried ants at the pet store and just pitch them in if you were trying to recreate this feeding patern. Or possibly a PLB (lo blo 'R.P. sorry ).

 

[Dionaea Enthusiast]

Sure, ants and termites seem pretty similar.
Yes, PLBs would also make an excellent substitute. jk:cheesy: