Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 22:17:57 -0700 From: "Joseph Kinyon" <corruscate@vivazapata.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1355$foo@default> Subject: carnivorous fungus
>
>
> I have found some books about carnivorous mushrooms. Has anybody
> encountered them in real life? Anybody growing them? I am intrigued by
> how they are being carnivorous...
>
>
> Wilson:)
>
>
Recently I had a conversation about carnivorous fungus (a form of
Arthrobotrys) and an interesting relation to the habitat was revealed. It
seems that there are these lupine bushes in Point Reyes being ravaged by
moths in some spots, and not at all in others. They then found that the moth
population was lower in some areas, but could not determine the reason,
until they checked the gut of the caterpillar of the moth. In the places
that were ravaged, nothing but what you would expect (I don't know what that
is)in the tummy of a larvae. In the areas where the lupine did fine,
parasitic nematodes were found in the caterpillar gut. They found that a
carnivorous fungus lived in little "islands" in the dirt, and in those areas
the moth population was higher (no parasitic nematodes), therefore the
lupine was ravaged.
check out this site *http://www.biol.lu.se/ekomibi/hertz.html for an
animated gif of a arthrobotrys
You can buy them from Carolina Biological Supply
Joseph Kinyon
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:31:57 PST