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Spiders, Carnivorous Plants Compete for Food
from National Geographic News
In the battle for bugs, wolf spiders are outwitting carnivorous plants, according to the first study to show members of the plant and animal kingdoms competing for prey. In parts of Florida and southern Georgia, two species of wolf spider eat the same insects as the pink sundew--a type of carnivorous plant.
Sundews catch bugs using a sticky mucilage on the tips of their leaves. The small plants then release digestive enzymes, which begin to process the trapped animals, leaving only their exoskeletons behind.
Sosippus floridanus spiders, meanwhile, build funnel webs slightly off the ground, at the same height as the sundews. And a wandering wolf spider species, Rabidosa rabida, actively hunts for the same insects the sundews tend to trap.
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