Spiders and Sarracenia

Demetrio Lamzaki (Dee_Lamzaki@msn.com)
Thu, 9 May 96 16:36:38 UT

GH>I was looking down the throat of an S. flava and noticed a
GH>spider had set up a web. How common is it and are there
GH>any known relationships.

I also find the occasional spider clogging up a Sarracenia pitcher's
mouth with a web, but since I see the same small brown spiders in other
places around here spinning webs over the openings in bamboo poles and
gutters I think it is most likely happenstance, unless a whole colony of
Sarracenia specific spiders has taken root in these parts and expanded
their range to include inanimate objects. There is a huge greenish
yellow spider that lives in the flowers of my Sarracenia however,
especially S. flava, that I haven't found anywhere else. It settles in
the cup of the umbrella, beneath the ovary. When a petal is lifted and
an object such as a toothpick is placed in the opening and touches the
floor of the umbrella the spider comes rushing out at it, it sure makes
pollinating them a lot more exciting! When I use a small paintbrush
that's usually too much for them and they leap out of the flower. I can
only imagine the reception a bee would get.

Regards,

Demetrios