The pitcher plant Nepenthes bicalcarata.FLICKR, AJ CANN
The swimming ant, Camponotus schmitzi, which lives exclusively on the fanged pitcher plant, Nepenthes bicalcarata, in Borneo, provides the plant with extra nutrients, at least in part by capturing and consuming parasitic mosquito and fly larvae that leach nutrients from the pitcher while developing inside it. Scientists once thought that the ant—which traverses the slippery rim of the fluid-filled pitchers while other insects fall in, drown, and are digested—was a parasite. But researchers over the last several years have suggested the ant could be doing the plant many small favors. A paper published today (May 22) in the journal PLOS One confirms that the ants and their plant homes are indeed engaged in a mutually beneficial relationship.
To confirm that the plants benefited from the ...
