Feb. 23, 2020
The S. Yellow Jacket is not the biggest pitcher plant, but it never fails to host stange and frequently creepy, commensal animals. It also catches armies of ants. I was recording the smallest pitcher, when i noticed something moving. Lots of somethings! The pitcher is filled with worms! It’s an ant nightmare in there! I did a little backlighting in this video towards the end. The masses of worms really show up with backlighting.
Note the mites rafting on the dead ants.
Note the giant mass of worms is in one of the smallest pitchers. I haven’t seen the worms in this quantity in other yellow jacket pitchers.
I think these are the same worms I spotted last year in a Sarracenia readii x moorei pitcher.