centipede

Dreyseth@aol.com
Sat, 16 Nov 1996 13:23:05 -0500

The following message was dated 3-30-96, but I only just now realized that it
was not sent out at that time. Sorry about the delayed response!

>Hey all, a few weeks ago one of my Sarracenia purpurea had a squiggly thing
>in a pitcher too. A centipede! There's nothing much left of it either. It's
>the largest prey I've been able to document in my own plants.

>Anyone else have experience with "invertebrate megafauna?"

Last fall as I was repotting a new houseplant that I had just bought I found
a centipede living in the soil. I dropped it into a S. purpurea pitcher and
forgot about it.
Later I discovered that it had crawled out and had made itself a new home
in the sand/peat alongside the pitcher plant, and was feeding on the dead
brown outerleaves. I enjoyed watching my new pet daily. When I repotted
my S. purpurea a few weeks ago, my centipede aparently did not take to its
new larger home, and has since dissappeared without a trace. :(

The little creature was of a benefit to me by removing unwanted material from
my plant with much greater care and precision than I am able to do.
I do wonder though if it would have also gone on to eat living tissues if it
had stayed around longer.

-Kerry Tyler