Post by shartmeyer on Mar 15, 2024 16:12:49 GMT
Rapid Prey Slinging Sundews
It always looks sensational when the rapid catapults of some sundews fling their prey into the sticky tentacles of the trapping leaf in a matter of seconds or even milliseconds. The largest of the catapult-flypaper traps known to date, Drosera glanduligera, is even faster than the famous Venus flytrap. In the past, who would have thought a sundew could do that? The exciting research into these fast trapping movements in the genus Drosera only began in the 1980s with the still rather sedate Drosera burmannii / D. sessilifolia. We show with impressive recordings how research into the fast catapults progressed. Even today there are still surprises. In this film we show all known rapid catapult-flypaper traps and present video evidence of the tentacle movement of Drosera australis, a further rapid pygmy Drosera.
