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?
Tag: carnivorous plants
What happens to carnivorous plants when the insects bite back?
A moth could be interfering with a pitcher plant’s reproduction by developing a taste for flowers – or at least parts of a flower.
Newly recognised carnivorous plant Triantha occidentalis
Between leaves and flowers, the peduncle of this plant serves as an insect sticky-trap
A carnivorous plant that feeds its pollinators
Edible floral trichomes discovered in bee-pollinated Pinguicula species show carnivorous plants can feed insects as well as feed on insects.
Buckleria paludum, the caterpillar that has a taste for danger
Far from being a victim, the caterpillar of Buckleria paludum feeds on carnivorous plants. But how?
How to eat bugs without really trying? Insights from the genomes of carnivorous plants
Genes for carnivory arose from a duplication of the genome turning plants into hunters.
The Chemical Tools of Carnivorous Plants
Carnivorous plants need to manufacture a variety of specialised chemicals to lure, trap and digest prey.
Daphnia are bite-size for the carnivorous waterwheel plant
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.
How important is meat to a curious carnivorous plant?
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?
UV light can guide flies to an Utterly Voracious plant
Students at Augustana University have found out how insects see carnivorous plants by building on each other’s work in a series of projects.
The plant that farms other plants for food
It’s not just animals that the bladderwort, Utricularia, eats. Two new papers are finding out how bladderworts also digest microscopic plants.
