Sunday, October 28, 2012

Caught in the act

This sundew plant is caught in the act of digesting this micro moth. The insectivorous plant is called Drosera indica the moth is unidentified. The image was taken at Namtok Soisawan flower field In Ubon Rachatani, Thailand.

The plant lives on nitrogen poor soil and supplements nitrogen uptake by 'catching' insects on the sticky surface and then carrying out extracellular digestion of the animal before absorbing the nitrogen to assist in the synthesis of amino acids and therefore protein.