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Mosquito larvae in pitchers

FlytrapGurl

apple rings.. what more can i say?
I was just now outside refilling my S. purpurea ssp. venosa pitchers with water. When I squirted the water into the pitcher to the far left, a whole bunch of dead and being-digested bugs whirled up to the top, like they always do, but I also saw some little white things... upon further inspection, I noticed that they were mosquito larvae! Live ones at that! They weren't being digested, and looked strong and healthy. I seriously doubt that they will be digested at all. Why aren't they being digested? Will they survive in there long enough to metatmorphasize into adults? What should I do about them that won't hurt the plant?
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Thanx,
FTG
 
They may just be the pitcher plant larvae Sarracezina or something like that I remember reading in a book. They are simply non-pest flys that reproduce in the purpurea pitcher water. If they are mosquito larvae then maybe dump it out them refill if you are overly concerned about it. They will not hurt the plant.
 
i agree with nep g , empty out the pitcher and rinse it a bit with water ,the mosquito larvae like making there homes in pitcher plants in the wild , since s. purpurea does not produce digestive enzymes , its is morelikely that the mosquito larvae will not get killed by it , even with other pitchers plant that do make the anzymes i still doe not effect the larvae from what i heard .
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (goldtrap2690 @ July 02 2003,01
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)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">s. purpurea does not produce digestive enzymes[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I don't know... I'll have to disagree with you on that one. S. purpurea must produce digestive enzymes, otherwise it wouldn't be able to digest it's food.

Nepenthes gracilis, does that kind of fly you're talking about live in Central Florida?

Also, the larvae in there look exactly like mosquito larvae. They have the little breathing spout and they are pure white and a little fleshy, and they move and behave just like mosquito larvae. I'm also convinced that they are mosquito larvae because I've seen a whole bunch of black and white mosquitoes(which, incidentally, are the kind that carry WNV)hanging around the purp the past month(one of them bit me today on the leg and I fed it to my butterwort
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). Also, I've been dumping out the watering trays and putting new water in them once a week lately since that's the only way I can keep the multitude of mosquito larvae I see in the trays all the time from metamorphasizing.

Thanks for the help, though! I'll rinse out the pitcher(s) tomorrow...
 
FTG , i thought you knew , from all the articles i have read i believe it does not make digestive juices . did you also know that heliamphora and darlingtonia don't make digestive juices either . If i remember barry rice has done a test on the plant s. purpurea , he said that he discovered no digestive glands on the walls of the ptichers . also , ever noticed that the lid of the plant does not cover the pitcher , that is because the plant collects rain water which aids in digestion . the way the plant digest the prey is by bacterial breakdown .same thing with darlingtonia and heliamphora , except , how does the water get into the darlingtonia pticher ?
 
Ohhhhhhhhh... I guess that makes sense...
 
FTG,
At Homedepot and or Lowe's they sell 'mosquito dunks' in the garden department. These dunks are a biological combatant. It is a naturally occuring bacteria that attacks the larvea and kills them without hurting anything else, species specfic. It is safe to put in bird baths and garden ponds. It won't hurt birds, fish or, the dog drinking out of the pond. It does not kill the adults but personally I would rather the females deposit their eggs in the water with the dunks than somewhere else to hatch out. The dunks last up to a month and they float. I break them into smaller peices and put them around. You could crumble them into the pitchers and add pieces to the trays.
 
Ok... I'll look into that... that's sounds like a good idea. Anyhowees, I got up this morning and looked in the pitcher again and all but one of the larvae were floating around in the pitcher, dead!
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Maybe I'll only have to use the dunks in the trays... hmmm... anyhowees, any idea why they lasted several days in the pitcher strong and healthy, then the next morning up and died? Does it take that long for the disolving bacterial breakdown stuff in the pitcher to get to them?

Thanx,
      FTG
 
Maybe they are only the exosckeletons, which means they might have finished metamorphasizing (thats a big word to type! )? Goldtrap, the water gets in the cobras pitchers when the bug is struggling, so the plant just secretes more water to quickly drown it.


Cole
 
  • #10
There is a species of mosquito that lays its eggs in S. purpurea pitchers. I think there is one sp. for the northern subsp., and one sp. for the southern subsp. Boy, that last sentence could be confusing. Anyway, this particular mosquito is not killed by pitcher plant water. I believe the genus is Wyoemia (my spelling is probably wrong). Unless you live way out of the range of S. purpurea, that's my guess as to what it is.
 
  • #11
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Colieo @ July 02 2003,11:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Goldtrap, the water gets in the cobras pitchers when the bug is struggling, so the plant just secretes more water to quickly drown it.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
yes , but when the bug struggles how does the plant know when to secrete the water , i think the water is absorbed by the rooted , there are'nt any trigger hairs in ciobra lilies ( but there are those guide hairs )
 
  • #12
I have always heard that movement just makes the plant secrete either digetive juices, or water, to ensure that the insect is drowned quickly. It is like shaking a nep pitcher, that stimulates the pitcher for some reason to keep the liquids in the pitcher more on the acidic level. Maybe the hairs in Cobras are touch-sensitive?


Cole
 
  • #13
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Colieo @ July 02 2003,2:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Maybe they are only the exosckeletons, which means they might have finished metamorphasizing (thats a big word to type! )?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Well, that could be, but I wouldn't think so because they are still fleshy looking and everything, and you can still see the little protrusion that the air tube comes out of. And there is just one live one in there that is exactly the same size and, presumably, age, so I would think that all of them would've metamorphasized by now...
 
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