I’ve seen many strange things inside pitcher plants. Countless ants, moths and wasps have been trapped only to be eaten by the mitey army that lives in the pitcher. What I haven’t spotted yet, is the pitcher plant mosquito (wyeomyia smithii). Well, I think I may have spotted one in the first opened S. Bugbat.
The pitcher plant mosquito, like the midge and flesh fly, live the early part of their lifecycle in the liquid of the pitcher plant. The adult mosquito lays eggs in the pitcher, which hatch into pupa that then eat the decomposing prey (and possibly the mites, too). In so doing, they help the plant digest it's prey. Eventually, the pupa changes into an adult, flys off to mate and continue their life cycle.
I spotted it the other day and unfortunately, I thought it was just another a crane fly. If I had known that this might have been a Wy Smithii, I would have taken a better video. The video begins ants exploring the pitcher lip and inside. Watch your step guys! As we go further inside you can see a bunch of water droplets and the occasional mite. Deeper into the pitcher *around 2 minutes), there she is in all her glory. (At least I hope it's a she and she’s laying eggs)
Not sure if this is Wy Smithii or just a mosquito that took a wrong turn. I found quite a few pictures of the pitcher plant mosquito. It has this odd stance, where it's back legs fold up over it's body. I didn’t see that behavior, yet. (Perhaps the odd back legs are adapted to help climb out of the slippery pitcher?) I didn’t find any good close-ups from the front to compare to yet either.
Lots of pictures of Wy Smithii in the wild at https://www.flickr.com/photos/123449205@N06/albums/72157695703040621/with/42608341622/
I did a second video of the mosquito later that day. It's still in there hanging out with the mites.
I went deeper into the the pitcher this time, deep enough to see the pitcher water. The water is filled with so many mites, ants, roaches and other prey that it is impossible to see the deeper. That could be a problem when I try to look for the mosquito larva. Unless, it eats everything and clears the surface.
Check out the links at the Laboratory of Evolutionary Genetics. Lots of info on Wy Smithii. I like that their logo is the pitcher plant mosquito
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