Toxomerus basalis: The fly that uses a killer as a babysitter
Sundews are carnivorous plants that feed on small naive insects. So why does a fly deliberately lay its eggs on the plant?
Plant Science from Cell Biology to Ecosystems
Sundews are carnivorous plants that feed on small naive insects. So why does a fly deliberately lay its eggs on the plant?
A moth could be interfering with a pitcher plant’s reproduction by developing a taste for flowers – or at least parts of a flower.
Between leaves and flowers, the peduncle of this plant serves as an insect sticky-trap
Edible floral trichomes discovered in bee-pollinated Pinguicula species show carnivorous plants can feed insects as well as feed on insects.
Far from being a victim, the caterpillar of Buckleria paludum feeds on carnivorous plants. But how?
Genes for carnivory arose from a duplication of the genome turning plants into hunters.
Carnivorous plants need to manufacture a variety of specialised chemicals to lure, trap and digest prey.
The Venus Fly Trap is not the only carnivorous plant with a snap-trap. Aldrovanda vesiculosa, the waterwheel plant, has one too but it’s not always been clear how it works.
Drosophyllum lusitanicum, also known as the Portuguese sundew or dewy pine, is unusual even for carnivorous plants in that it lives in dry environments. Typically, carnivorous plants live in nutrient-poor wetlands, so does it really gain much from carnivory?
Students at Augustana University have found out how insects see carnivorous plants by building on each other’s work in a series of projects.
It’s not just animals that the bladderwort, Utricularia, eats. Two new papers are finding out how bladderworts also digest microscopic plants.