Topic for Nepenthes THESIS

[amphirion]

@dboeren: that'd be hard to do as well, more like a master's, PhD thesis as well, since phylogenetics is the best method for this type of study. you'd have to find multiple species, then multiple representatives of that species. Plus phylogenetic work has already been done regarding neps, we somewhat know which species are more recently derived than others.

as for capturing specific prey items, that has been done as well--albimarginata specializes in eating termites, inermis and jamban specialize in winged prey items, etc etc.

[thez_yo]

When I was visiting Joel's house, all of his inermis uppers were filled with one thing and one thing only: blue bottle flies.

The only other prey I noticed was ants filing into a ventricosa or ventricosa-hybrid pitcher.

[RL7836]

While I have no idea if there's an idea for a thesis in this, I am very intrigued about the observations of N. lowii pitcher fluid consumption that was observed in this thread. Does this water usage have anything to do with the other revelations on N. lowii (& rajah) adapting as toilets for shrews? Why does N. lowii use this much fluid and other epiphytic species do not? Do N. rajah & N. ephippiata have similar rates of consumption?