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. 2018 Mar;14(3):20170716.
doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0716.

Predatory dipteran larva contributes to nutrient sequestration in a carnivorous pitcher plant

Weng Ngai Lam  1 , Robyn Jing Ying Lim  2 , Shi Hong Wong  2 , Hugh Tiang Wah Tan  2
Affiliations

Predatory dipteran larva contributes to nutrient sequestration in a carnivorous pitcher plant

Weng Ngai Lam et al. Biol Lett. 2018 Mar.

Abstract

The fluids of Nepenthes pitcher plants are habitats to many specialized animals known as inquilines, which facilitate the conversion of prey protein into pitcher-absorbable nitrogen forms such as ammonium. Xenoplatyura beaveri (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) is a predatory dipteran inquiline that inhabits the pitchers of Nepenthes ampullaria Larvae of X. beaveri construct sticky webs over the fluid surface of N. ampullaria to ensnare emerging adult dipteran inquilines. However, the interaction between X. beaveri and its host has never been examined before, and it is not known if X. beaveri can contribute to nutrient sequestration in N. ampullaria. Xenoplatyura beaveri individuals were reared in artificial pitchers in the laboratory on a diet of emergent Tripteroides tenax mosquitoes, and the ammonium concentration of the pitcher fluids was measured over time. Fluid ammonium concentration in tubes containing X. beaveri was significantly greater than those of the controls. Furthermore, fluid ammonium concentrations increased greatly after X. beaveri larvae metamorphosed, although the cause of this increase could not be identified. Our results show that a terrestrial, inquiline predator can contribute significantly to nutrient sequestration in the phytotelma it inhabits, and suggest that this interaction has a net mutualistic outcome for both species.

Keywords: Mycetophilidae; Nepenthes ampullaria; Xenoplatyura beaveri; cross-habitat predation; nutritional mutualism; phytotelma.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare we have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Xenoplatyura beaveri. (a) The web of X. beaveri in Nepenthes ampullaria pitcher, in situ; (b) the habit of the X. beaveri larva in a dissected N. ampullaria pitcher seen from bottom-up—when not feeding, the larva often rests under the peristome; (c) adult specimen of X. beaveri with scale bar.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Fluid ammonium concentrations increased more with number of T. tenax emerged in X. beaveri treatments than in controls. Points represent observations (filled points, X. beaveri treatments; open points, control), and are connected by dotted lines for observations from the same tube. Thick white lines represent model predictions for unemerged X. beaveri and control treatments, with the shaded regions around them representing the 95% confidence intervals of those predictions (blue (above), X. beaveri; green (below), control). n = 24; R2 = 86.5%. (Online version in colour.)
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