Sundew bugs:
Allen and I chatted on the rocks for a while, and he kindly signed my copies of his books. Our time together was
indeed a pleasure, and before he deposited us at our Perth hotel, he gave us a CD that included not only all his published
papers, but also a library of photographs and even several musical works of his own composition on ProTools!
The image above is of an ornate little Setocoris crawling around on, of all things,
a Stylidium ciliatum inflorescence! Was it going to ambush-capture pollinators? Was it going to feed on
insects stuck to the glandular floral organs? Here are a few more images
showing the inflorescence, and
the bug's back.
Finishing my Australian trip reports with these images of the Setocoris bug seems appropriate.
After two weeks of whirlwind tours of carnivorous plant trips. I felt a little like a
Setocoris bug myself, crawling around sundews to find whatever I might find. It was spectacular,
and Beth and I are already talking about returning.
By the way, during our two weeks in Australia we saw
49 carnivorous plant taxa (Byblis, Drosera, and
Utricularia) and
more than 15 species of Stylidium and orchids!
In comparison, the entire USA has only about 62 carnivorous plant taxa, of which I have seen 56.
Meanwhile, back to reality, we've returned to California, and are planning are next trips into the nearby mountains
where I hope to see at most five or six whole species of carnivorous plants. Sigh.
