March 2, 2020
I was checking on the Yellow Jacket that is trapped in the S. Leucophylla. The poor guy got turned around and is now face down in the pitcher, with an unsettling view of the insect graveyard and the animals that eat them. The yellow jacket is still alive, but something else is in the pitcher with it. A large red mite is roaming inside as well. He was in Zone 2, above the slippery zone and I accidentally knocked it into the slippery zone 3. The mega-mite in the gif below is around 2 minutes into the video.
Not sure what species it is. A quick google search of “red mites” gives a ton of results. There are some red mites that are major plant pests. With bad mite infestations, they can cover your plants with their webs while eating the infected plant’s cells. Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like mites are a problem for sarracenia. There are other red mites that are predators, for other mites. In fact, you can purchase predatory mites at buglogical or even on ebay, to keep other mites in check. (I guess you can get anything on ebay)
(You can get 2000 of these hungry little buggers for 60$, which means this little guy is worth 3cents on the open market. Let me get my tweezers)
All I know is that it is red and that it is a giant compared to other mites in the pitcher. I managed to get the mega-mite in frame with both types of slime mites. The Yellow Jacket is in the center. There are several nearly translucent Sarraceniopus mites below the red mite. (Only one is resolved well in this picture. There is also a slightly larger Macroseius mite on the yellow jacket’s butt. It is not in focus,it's more of a blob, but you can tell it's there because it is extremely reflective under the pencam’s lights. The second picture shows it better resolved.
The question is “is the big red mite here to make a new home in the pitcher, or is it more food for the pitcher plant?” Unfortunately, I fear this did not end well for the big guy.
I went looking for him (3 4 2020) but didn’t see him running around. I did see a red blob under a pile of hungry white blobs next to the dead yellow jacket. Sorry big guy.
I also recently spotted another red mite in an old S. Bugbat pitcher. Note it is about the size of a typical ant. Now that’s a big mite.
Earlier, I found a large red mite drowned in the S. Yellow Jacket pitcher. Note, this was the same pitcher that has the worms in it. See worms.
ten days later (March 12) back in the S. leucophylla, the wasp’s abdomen was barely recognizable. It is buried beneath an army of hungry slime mites.
I wonder what attracted the mega-mite? Was it the sweet nectar that attracts the ants or was it attracted to the smell of hundreds of tasty slime mites? Either way, he’s slime mite food now.
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