large ant/resident spider

From: Paul Burkhardt (burkhard@aries.scs.uiuc.edu)
Date: Thu Jul 17 1997 - 08:18:42 PDT


Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 10:18:42 -0500 (CDT)
From: Paul Burkhardt <burkhard@aries.scs.uiuc.edu>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg2684$foo@default>
Subject: large ant/resident spider

Hi list,

I caught a large carpenter ant last night, and I mean large. The beast was
easily 2 cm in length. I decided to feed it to my N. ampullaria so I
dropped it in a 'virgin' pitcher and was surprised at how quickly it
succumbed. The entire struggle only lasted about 10-15 seconds and then
suddenly, no movement. There must be quite a powerful agent in the pitcher
fluid. Does anyone have any idea what it might be?

On another note, I have discovered a large spider residing under the lid
of one of my S. flava pitchers. She has spun an eggcase and is expecting
soon. I imagine that she drops her 'drained' victims into my pitcher since
theren't aren't any carcasses hanging around.

Happy growing to all.

Paul Burkhardt



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