Re: Slugs and CP
Oliver T Massey CFS (massey@hal.fmhi.usf.edu)
Thu, 16 May 1996 10:31:03 -0400 (EDT)
> > Are slugs immune to effects of S. Flava and S. Purpurea? I noted
> > that the slug worked his way around the rim of the S. Purpurea
> > before wandering out, so apparently he liked something there.
> >
> >
> Sarracenias have evolved to capture mostly insect prey which are
> attracted to extrafloral nectaries around the rim and hood of the
> pitchers. Slugs grip surfaces by a different mechanism to spiders,
> insects etc and secrete a slime trail such that their progress is
> unimpeded by the downward pointing hairs that make the surface
> slippery for most insects. The slug would also not be killed as it
> had not landed the lower pitcher which is where insects are drowned
> and digested.
>
>
> Martin Henery Macquarie University Sydney, Australia.
FWIW - I have never found slugs in any traps of Neps or Sarrs (maybe if they
were trapped they would dissolve and leave nothing behind but a smell).
However, in past years I have found S. purp. and N. mirabilis to be very adept
at catching garden snails. The older dried Nep pitchers were so full of their
shells they sound like maracas.
Tom in Fl