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Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant

Among trapping mechanisms in carnivorous plants, those termed ‘active’ have especially fascinated scientists since Charles Darwin’s early works because trap movements are involved. Fast snap-trapping and suction of prey are two of the most spectacular examples for how these plants actively catch ani...

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Autores principales: Poppinga, Simon, Hartmeyer, Siegfried Richard Heinrich, Seidel, Robin, Masselter, Tom, Hartmeyer, Irmgard, Speck, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3458893/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23049849
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045735
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author Poppinga, Simon
Hartmeyer, Siegfried Richard Heinrich
Seidel, Robin
Masselter, Tom
Hartmeyer, Irmgard
Speck, Thomas
author_facet Poppinga, Simon
Hartmeyer, Siegfried Richard Heinrich
Seidel, Robin
Masselter, Tom
Hartmeyer, Irmgard
Speck, Thomas
author_sort Poppinga, Simon
collection PubMed
description Among trapping mechanisms in carnivorous plants, those termed ‘active’ have especially fascinated scientists since Charles Darwin’s early works because trap movements are involved. Fast snap-trapping and suction of prey are two of the most spectacular examples for how these plants actively catch animals, mainly arthropods, for a substantial nutrient supply. We show that Drosera glanduligera, a sundew from southern Australia, features a sophisticated catapult mechanism: Prey animals walking near the edge of the sundew trigger a touch-sensitive snap-tentacle, which swiftly catapults them onto adjacent sticky glue-tentacles; the insects are then slowly drawn within the concave trap leaf by sticky tentacles. This is the first detailed documentation and analysis of such catapult-flypaper traps in action and highlights a unique and surprisingly complex mechanical adaptation to carnivory.
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spelling pubmed-34588932012-10-03 Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant Poppinga, Simon Hartmeyer, Siegfried Richard Heinrich Seidel, Robin Masselter, Tom Hartmeyer, Irmgard Speck, Thomas PLoS One Research Article Among trapping mechanisms in carnivorous plants, those termed ‘active’ have especially fascinated scientists since Charles Darwin’s early works because trap movements are involved. Fast snap-trapping and suction of prey are two of the most spectacular examples for how these plants actively catch animals, mainly arthropods, for a substantial nutrient supply. We show that Drosera glanduligera, a sundew from southern Australia, features a sophisticated catapult mechanism: Prey animals walking near the edge of the sundew trigger a touch-sensitive snap-tentacle, which swiftly catapults them onto adjacent sticky glue-tentacles; the insects are then slowly drawn within the concave trap leaf by sticky tentacles. This is the first detailed documentation and analysis of such catapult-flypaper traps in action and highlights a unique and surprisingly complex mechanical adaptation to carnivory. Public Library of Science 2012-09-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3458893/ /pubmed/23049849 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045735 Text en © 2012 Poppinga et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Poppinga, Simon
Hartmeyer, Siegfried Richard Heinrich
Seidel, Robin
Masselter, Tom
Hartmeyer, Irmgard
Speck, Thomas
Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant
title Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant
title_full Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant
title_fullStr Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant
title_full_unstemmed Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant
title_short Catapulting Tentacles in a Sticky Carnivorous Plant
title_sort catapulting tentacles in a sticky carnivorous plant
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3458893/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23049849
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045735
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