With the weather warming up here in Michigan I've placed my collection of D.capensis outside to feed. What hogs I might add too!!! They've been putting a dent in the local fly population. In some cases one leaf is curled around three flies. One thing puzzles me concerning the cause(s) for leaf movement in this species. There are times an entire leaf corkscrews around an insect completely engulfing it and at other times the leaf hardly moves at all. For example, I placed a healthy ant onto a leaf the other day and except for the tentacles in the immediate vicinity bending toward the ant the leaf itself did (has) not moved at all. In both cases the insect is struggling furiously leading you to assume sufficient stimulation is being applied to trigger leaf movement. However, it's obviously not always the case. At other times the leaf may not move for up to a day after ensnaring a victim and then it suddenly it seems to snap into a dramatic full stranglehold. This has led me to conclude that in least in some cases it's not soley the prey moving that triggers the leaf into action; but rather it may also be triggered by the onset of the digestive process. As the tentacles begin to absorb nutrients from the insect the leaf is further stimulated into additional action. In most cases the insect is still alive and kicking while being slowly digested. (Cruel little suckers aren't they!) I'd like to hear some opinions or observations from you sundew sages out there....
