You might be interested in a paper my wife and I published in the "Orchid
Digest", vol. 54, no.4 (1990) entitled..."Opportunistic feeding involving
the pitcher plants Nepenthes hirsuta, Nepenthes gracilis and the epiphytic
orchid Schomburgkia tibicinis..." This orchid is inhabited in the wild by
ant colonies that excavate galleries in the starchy masses inside the
pseudobulbs, and in greenhouses the orchids are often infested as
well...the ants then feeding on the flower nectar. Three years running,
the elongate (8-10 foot long) flower stalks reached into the growing
Nepenthes. ALL of the ants were lured off the Schomburgkia flower stalks
to the Nepenthes and captured each time. 100% of the ants were
"eaten"...consumed...and the fact was documented by examining the black
sludge in the bottoms of the pitchers...which consisted of disarticulated
ant exoskelton parts. The ant diet apparently agreed well with the
Nepenthes.
regards...
Clair R. Ossian
regards,
clastic@metronet.com