Nepenthes albomarginata

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Nepenthes albomarginata

Two lower pitchers of N. albomarginata. Bako National Park, Borneo.

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Nepenthaceae
Genus:	Nepenthes
Species:	N. albomarginata

Binomial name

Nepenthes albomarginata
Lobb ex Lindl. (1849)

Synonyms

Nepenthes albocincta
Hort. ex Macf. (1908) nom.nud.
Nepenthes albocincta var. rubra
Hort. ex Macf. (1908)
Nepenthes laevis
auct. non Lindl.: C.Morr. (1852)
Nepenthes teysmanniana
Miq. (1858)
[=N. albomarginata/N. gracilis]
Nepenthes tomentella
Miq. (1855)
Nepenthes tupmanniana
Bonst. (1931) sphalm.typogr.

Nepenthes albomarginata (pronounced /nəˈpɛnθiːz ˈælbəʊmɑːdʒɪnɑːtə/, Latin: albus = white, marginatus = margin), or the White-Collared Pitcher-Plant,^[1] is a pitcher plant of the genus Nepenthes found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, as well as Peninsular Malaysia.

1 Carnivory
2 Infraspecific taxa
3 Natural hybrids
4 References

[edit] Carnivory

Upper pitcher of Nepenthes albomarginata.

N. albomarginata is notable for specializing in termites; most of the species in the genus Nepenthes are unselective about their prey. According to botanist Marlis A. Merbach and coworkers, this specialization to a single prey taxon is unique amongst carnivorous plants.

N. albomarginata has a unique morphological feature: a rim of living white trichomes directly below the peristome. The rim's hairs tend to be missing from pitchers that have caught termites. Merbach said "For several days, nothing would happen, then — after a single night — pitchers would fill with termites and their rim hairs would disappear."

Merbach investigated this phenomenon by placing fresh intact pitchers, together with pitchers with their white rims removed, near to the head of foraging columns of the termite Hospitalitermes bicolor. When the column found the pitcher, termites grazed on the rim.

While grazing, many termites (both workers and soldiers) fell into the pitchers. Once in the pitcher, they were unable to climb out. Merbach counted up to 22 individuals per minute falling into the pitchers and noted that the capture rate could easily exceed this for denser columns. After about an hour, the hairs were all gone and the pitcher was evidently no longer attractive to termites (and was filled with termites trying to escape).

It is not known how the trichomes lure termites to the plant. Merbach detected no long-range olfactory attraction during his experiments and noted that "all contacts seemed to happen by chance, with termites often missing pitchers less than 1 cm away from them."

Merbach also points out that N. albomarginata is the only plant species to offer its tissue as a bait.

[edit] Infraspecific taxa

N. albomarginata f. sanguinea Toyoda ex Hinode-Kadan (1985) nom.nud.
N. albomarginata var. rubra (Hort. ex Macfarl.) Macfarl. (1908)
N. albomarginata var. tomentella (Miq.) G.Beck (1895)
N. albomarginata var. typica G.Beck (1895) nom.illeg.
N. albomarginata var. villosa Hook.f. (1873)

[edit] Natural hybrids

N. albomarginata × N. ampullaria^[2]
N. albomarginata × N. clipeata^[2]
N. albomarginata × N. eustachya^[3]
N. albomarginata × N. hirsuta^[2]
N. albomarginata × N. macrovulgaris
N. albomarginata × N. northiana [=N. × cincta]^[2]
? N. albomarginata × N. rafflesiana^[4]
N. albomarginata × N. reinwardtiana [=N. × ferrugineomarginata]^[2]
? N. albomarginata × N. sanguinea^[5]
N. albomarginata × N. veitchii^[2]

Nepenthes × cincta

[edit] References

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Nepenthes albomarginata

^ Phillipps, A. & A. Lamb 1996. Pitcher-Plants of Borneo. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Clarke, C.M. 1997. Nepenthes of Borneo. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.
^ Clarke, C.M. 2001. Nepenthes of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu.
^ Lowrie, A. 1983. Sabah Nepenthes Expeditions 1982 & 1983.PDF (1.25 MiB) Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 12(4): 88–95.
^ Shivas, R.G. 1985. Variation in Nepenthes albo-marginata.PDF (670 KiB) Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 14(1): 13–14.

Clarke, C.M., R. Cantley, J. Nerz, H. Rischer & A. Witsuba (2000). Nepenthes albomarginata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.
Merbach, M.A., D.J. Merbach, U. Maschwitz, W.E. Booth, B. Fiala & G. Zizka 2002. Carnivorous plants: Mass march of termites into the deadly trap. Nature 415: 36–37. doi:10.1038/415036a
Merbach, M.A., D.J. Merbach, W.E. Booth, U. Maschwitz, G. Zizka & B. Fiala 2000. A unique niche in plant carnivory: Nepenthes albomarginata feeds on epigaeically mass foraging termites. Tagungsband gtö 2000 13. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie 1–3. March 2000 in Würzburg Lehrstuhl für Tierökologie und Tropenbiologie Universität Würzburg. p. 105.
Moran, J.A., W.E. Booth & J.K. Charles 1999. Aspects of Pitcher Morphology and Spectral Characteristics of Six Bornean Nepenthes Pitcher Plant Species: Implications for Prey Capture.PDF Annals of Botany 83: 521–528.
Moran, J.A., M.A. Merbach, N.J. Livingston, C.M. Clarke & W.E. Booth 2001. Termite Prey Specialization in the Pitcher Plant Nepenthes albomarginata - Evidence from Stable Isotope Analysis.PDF Annals of Botany 88: 307–311.
Riedel, M., A. Eichner, H. Meimberg & R. Jetter 2007. Chemical composition of epicuticular wax crystals on the slippery zone in pitchers of five Nepenthes species and hybrids. Planta 225(6): 1517–1534. doi:10.1007/s00425-006-0437-3