Tropical Venus Flytrap in Borneo

The Venus Flytrap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant that catches and digests animal prey—mostly insects and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves comes into contact with one or more of the hairs twice in succession, the trap closes. The requirement of redundant triggering in this mechanism serves as a safeguard against the spurious expending of energy toward trapping other, non-living things which may not reward the plant with similar nutrition.





The Venus Flytrap is a small plant, forming a rosette of four to seven leaves, which arise from a short subterranean stem that is actually a bulb-like object. Each steam reaches a maximum size of about three to ten centimeters, depending on the time of year; longer leaves with robust traps are usually formed after flowering. Flytraps that have more than 7 leaves are colonies formed by rosettes that have divided beneath the ground.

The leaf blade is divided into two regions: a flat, heart shaped photosynthetic capable petiole, and a pair of terminal lobes hinged at the midrib, forming the trap which is the true leaf. The upper surface of these lobes contains red anthocyanin pigments and its edges secrete mucilage. The lobes exhibit rapid plant movements, snapping shut when stimulated by prey. The trapping mechanism is tripped when prey items stumble against one of the three hair-like trichomes that are found on the upper surface of each of the lobes.

The trapping mechanism is so specialized that it can distinguish between living prey and non-prey stimuli such as falling raindrops; two trigger hairs must be touched in succession or one hair touched twice, whereupon the lobes of the trap will snap shut in about 0.1 seconds. The edges of the lobes are fringed by stiff hair-like protrusions or cilia, which mesh together and prevent large prey items from escaping. (These protrusions, and the trigger hairs, are probably homologous with the tentacles found in this plant’s close relatives, the sundews.) The holes in the meshwork allow small prey to escape, presumably because the benefit that would be obtained from them would be less than the cost of digesting them. If the prey is too small and escapes, the trap will reopen within 12 hours. If the prey moves around in the trap, it tightens and digestion begins more quickly.

Speed of closing can vary depending on the amount of humidity, light, size of prey, and general growing conditions. The speed with which traps close can be used as an indicator of a plant's general health. Venus Flytraps are not as humidity dependent as are some other carnivorous plants, such as Nepenthes, Cephalotus, most Heliamphora, and some Drosera.

Photo location: Jln Stakan, Kuching

Joyriding dogs

Photo of three dogs on a pickup truck taking a joyride. Lucky dogs.



The joyriding dogs were spotted at Kpg Quop/10th Mile Bazaar junction, Kuching.

Freak papaya from Borneo

This my second series on nature's freak. The first one was about a Branched coconut tree. Below is a photo of a freak papaya which bear 3 papaya fruits on a single stem. A triplet papaya. Above: While branched papaya tree is common, branched papaya fruit is rare. How a normal papaya tree look like. The papaya (from Carib via Spanish), is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classic cultures. It is sometimes called a "big melon" or a "paw paw" but the North American pawpaw is a different species, in the genus Asimina. Location of photo subject: My house backyard at Kuching.

Barbados cherry in Borneo

Close up photo of a tiny apple after the rain. Actually, the dwarf apple like fruit is a Barbados cherry.

Acerola (Malpighia glabra) or Acerolla, also known as Barbados cherry or wild crapemyrtle, is a tropical fruit-bearing shrub or small tree in the family Malpighiaceae.

Black caterpillar with white stripes and blue spikes - Series #15

Photo series of a black caterpillar with white stripes and blue spikes. This caterpillar is the 15th in the series.







Don't forget to check out the the collection on Tropical caterpillars in all shapes and size

Related posts:
* Black Yellow Spiky Caterpillar - Series #14
* Spiky caterpillar with black and red spots - Series #13
* Luminous green spiky caterpillar - Series #12
* Tropical furry black white caterpillar - Series #11
* Tropical caterpillar with horns - Series #10
* Black spiky caterpillar - Series #9
* Brown patterned caterpillar - Series #8 (camouflage)
* Baby caterpillar - Series #7
* Tropical furry caterpillar - Series #6
* Tropical yellowish caterpillar - Series #5 (spiky caterpillar)
* Tropical caterpillar - Series #4 (shoe brush caterpillar)
* Tropical caterpillar - Series #3
* Tropical green caterpillar - Series #2
* Tropical big green leave cutter caterpillar - Series #1

Long legged mosquitoes

Photo of a long legged mosquitoes. Some has the opinion that it might also be a crane fly.









Do you know everything about mosquitoes? Everyone knows that mosquitoes suck blood and spread dengue fever. But why do they suck blood? What kind of diseases do they also spread? What is the mosquitoes'life cycle? Well, I've done a little research of my own and found out quite a bit of knowledge! Here is what I've found!

Mosquitoes belong to a family of flies that are called Culicidae and are small fragile insects that have six delicate legs and two wings covered in scales. The head of a mosquito is equipped with a projecting proboscis which conceals and protects the long piercing and sucking mouthparts. These biting insects have a complex life cycle; the immature stage is totally aquatic and the adult is terrestrial. The adult female returns to a water habitat for a brief period to lay each batch of eggs. Mosquito species vary in their breeding habits, biting behaviour, host preferences and flight range. Most mosquitoes disperse less than two kilometres; some move only a few metres away from their original breeding place, others can fly some 5 or 10 kilometres, and a few species will disperse up to 50 kilometres downwind from the larval habitats.

On average, a female mosquito will live 2-3 weeks, but the male's lifespan is shorter. Within their lifetime both adult male and female will feed on nectar and plant fluids, but it is only the female that will seek a blood meal. So this is why mosquitoes suck blood! The majority of species require this blood meal as a protein source for egg development. Female mosquitoes are attracted to a potential host through a combination of different stimuli that emanate from the host. The stimuli can include carbon dioxide, body odours, air movement or heat. Upon locating a suitable host, the female will probe the skin for a blood capillary then inject a small amount of saliva containing chemicals which prevent the host's blood from clotting. This is often the pathway for potential pathogens such as viruses to enter a host. After engorging on the host's blood the female will find a resting place to digest her meal and develop eggs before flying off to deposit them in a suitable aquatic habitat.

The young larvae are called wrigglers and when they hatch, they will feed continuously and grow though four instars or moultsarval development is dependent on the availability of food and prevailing conditions, particularly temperature, but generally takes at least one to two weeks. The final larval instar develops into an active comma-shaped pupa from which the adult mosquito emerges about 2 days later to feed, mate and develop eggs for the next generation.

Now that we've covered the life cycle and why do they suck blood, let's move on to the diseases. Some of the diseases are the well known dengue fever, Australian encephalitis , Ross River virus disease and Barmah Forerst disease . Dengue is the most important viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes afflicting humans in a world context. Clinical symptoms range from mild fevers, to a severe and potentially life threatening hemorrhagic disease. In Australia, Dengue fever is restricted to Queensland where the major vector Aedes aegypti occurs. "Australian encephalitis" (AE), or "Murray Valley encephalitis" are synonyms for a clinical syndrome caused by infection with Murray Valley encephalitis virus or Kunjin virus . Symptoms are variable, from mild to severe with permanent impaired neurological functions, to sometimes fatal. Cases of AE occurs sporadically in northern Australia and especially in the northwest of WA, but there have been no cases of MVE recorded in southeastern Australia since 1974. Ross River (RR) and Barmah Forest (BF) disease have been collectively known as "Epidemic Polyarthritis", however the two diseases have a slightly different clinical picture. A wide variety of symptoms may occur from rashes with fevers, to arthritis that can last from months to years with RR virus infection. RR disease is the most commonly reported mosquito transmitted disease to humans (over 6,500 cases in 1997) and occurs in all states of Australia. There are occasional local epidemics with hundreds to thousands of infections, with many going unreported. BF disease occurs in most states of Australia, although the annual number of cases are around 1/10th that of RR disease. A series of outbreaks during the early 1990's has highlighted the increasing importance of BF disease. Malaria in Australia has been endemic, but was declared eradicated from the country in 1981. However, approximately 700-800 cases are imported annually from travelers infected elsewhere.

Recommended Reference:
* More on Mosquitoes and Disease
* The Nematocera :- Mosquitos, Love Bugs

Golden Paper Wasp

A sole Golden Paper Wasp sentinel caught guarding its nest (also called brood).



Related posts:
* Paper wasps - Polistes chinensis

Paper Wasp, common name for medium- to large-sized wasps that construct nests made of a papery material. The nests consist of a single upside-down layer of brood cells (compartments for the young). There are 22 species of paper wasps in North America and approximately 700 species world-wide. They are natural enemies of many garden insect pests.

Scientific classification: Paper wasps are in the genus Polistes in the family Vespidae, which also includes potter wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets. The golden paper wasp is Polistes fuscatus.

Local dog eye photo

Photo of a local dog's eye.