- Metriocnemus knabi
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Metriocnemus knabi Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Diptera Suborder: Nematocera Infraorder: Culicomorpha Superfamily: Chironomoidea Family: Chironomidae Subfamily: Orthocladiinae Genus: Metriocnemus Species: M. knabi Binomial name Metriocnemus knabi
Coquillett, 1904Metriocnemus knabi, the pitcher plant midge, is an inquiline invertebrate found only in the phytotelma of the purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea. In this microcommunity of bacteria, rotifers, protozoa, and other dipteran larva like Wyeomyia smithii, M. knabi specializes by feeding mostly on the carcasses of drowned insects captured by the plant that collect at the bottom of the pitcher.[1][2]
References
- ^ Heard, S. B. (1994). Pitcher-plant midges and mosquitoes: a processing chain commensalism. Ecology, 75(6): 1647-1660.
- ^ Mouquet, N., Daufresne, T., Gray, S. M., and Miller, T. E. (2008). Modelling the relationship between a pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) and its phytotelma community: mutualism or parasitism? Functional Ecology, 22: 728-737.
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