| Drosera arachnoides | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Droseraceae |
| Genus: | Drosera |
| Subgenus: | Drosera subg. Drosera |
| Section: | Drosera sect. Drosera |
| Species: | D. arachnoides |
| Binomial name | |
| Drosera arachnoides Rakotoar. & A.Fleischm. | |
Drosera arachnoides is a carnivorous plant in the family Droseraceae. It is endemic to Madagascar. [1]
Drosera arachnoides is similar to the closely related Drosera humbertii . Its leaves are 22-40 millimeters long, and a mature plant can have a stem that is 25-45 millimeters tall. [2]
Drosera arachnoides is native to the Fianarantsoa and Toamasina provinces of Madagascar. [3]
Drosera, which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surfaces. The insects are used to supplement the poor mineral nutrition of the soil in which the plants grow. Various species, which vary greatly in size and form, are native to every continent except Antarctica.
Drosera indica, sometimes known as the Indian sundew, is a species of sundew native to tropical and southern Africa, Madagascar and tropical and subtropical Asia. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum in 1753. Until the early 21st century it was mostly considered a highly variable species with a wide distribution including Australia, but since 2000 several distinct species have been separated from D. indica within Drosera section Arachnopus, which is often referred to as the ‘Drosera indica complex’. Many of these species are endemic to Australia, but D. indica itself is now widely considered to be absent from that country.
The composition of Madagascar's wildlife reflects the fact that the island has been isolated for about 88 million years. The prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana separated the Madagascar-Antarctica-India landmass from the Africa-South America landmass around 135 million years ago. Madagascar later split from India about 88 million years ago, allowing plants and animals on the island to evolve in relative isolation.
Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods, and occasionally small mammals and birds. They still generate all of their energy from photosynthesis. They have adapted to grow in waterlogged sunny places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs. They can be found on all continents except Antarctica, as well as many Pacific islands. In 1875, Charles Darwin published Insectivorous Plants, the first treatise to recognize the significance of carnivory in plants, describing years of painstaking research.
Alastair S. Robinson is a taxonomist and field botanist specialising in the carnivorous plant genus Nepenthes, for which he is regarded as a world authority. He is currently Manager Biodiversity Services at the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, where he oversees identification botany services, the Library and Artwork components of the State Botanical Collection, and the botanical journal Muelleria, a peer-reviewed scientific journal on botany published by the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, for which he is Editor in Chief.
Genlisea tuberosa is a carnivorous species in the genus Genlisea that is endemic to Brazil and found only in campos rupestres vegetation. Lacking any roots, it has unpigmented bundles of "rootlike" subterranean organs, technically leaves, which attract, trap, and digest protozoans. This species is unique in the genus in its formation of tubers. As of 2014, Genlisea tuberosa has the smallest known genome of any flowering plant, at 61 Mbp, or 61,000,000 base pairs.
Drosera magnifica is a species of sundew endemic to Pico do Padre Ângelo in eastern Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil, where it grows among sandstone outcrops in herbaceous and shrubby vegetation. It is one of the three largest species of Drosera – the other two being D. regia from South Africa and D. gigantea from Australia – and was discovered in 2015 through images which appeared on the social network Facebook. It is the largest New World sundew, and it is closely related to Drosera graminifolia and Drosera spiralis. According to the IUCN Red List categories and criteria, it is considered Critically Endangered. Brazil is home to some 30 species of Drosera.
Pinguicula hemiepiphytica is a tropical carnivorous plant species native to the cloud forests of Oaxaca, Mexico. It was first identified in 1991 and is one of the few epiphytic species in the genus.
Toxomerus basalis, commonly known as the sundew flower fly, is a species of kleptoparasitic fly endemic to Brazil. It was first described by Francis Walker in 1836. It feeds on captured, immobilized insects caught on the sticky leaves of sundew plants, which are carnivorous. Adult flies seem to have some capacity to escape from Drosera leaves if they have not come into contact with too many of the tentacles. The species is non-specific and have been found on large-leaved, semi-erect, and thread-like Drosera species, such as Drosera graomogolensis and Drosera magnifica.
Andreas Fleischmann is a German botanist specialising in carnivorous plants, particularly Droseraceae and Lentibulariaceae. He has (co-)published at least 46 new taxa including 14 species of Drosera (sundews), 7 species of Genlisea, 8 species of Heliamphora and 3 species of Pinguicula (butterworts).
Drosera aquatica is a species of sundew endemic to the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It was first described by Allen Lowrie in 2013. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera aurantiaca is a species of sundew endemic to the Northern Territory and the north of Western Australia. It was first described by Allen Lowrie in his 2014 Carnivorous Plants of Australia Magnum Opus. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera barrettiorum is a species of sundew endemic to the north of Western Australia. It was first described by Allen Lowrie in his 2014 Carnivorous Plants of Australia Magnum Opus. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera cucullata is a species of sundew endemic to the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It was first described by Allen Lowrie in his 2014 Carnivorous Plants of Australia Magnum Opus. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera fragrans is a species of sundew endemic to the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It was first described by Allen Lowrie in his 2014 Carnivorous Plants of Australia Magnum Opus. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera glabriscapa is a species of sundew endemic in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was first described by Allen Lowrie in his 2014 Carnivorous Plants of Australia. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera maanyaa-gooljoo is a species of sundew endemic to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was first described by Andreas Fleischmann and Thilo Krueger in 2023. The type material was collected much earlier, in 1982, but was originally categorised within D. indica and later as a form of D. fragrans. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera margaritacea is a species of sundew endemic to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was first described by Thilo Krueger and Andreas Fleischmann in 2021. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera nana is a species of sundew endemic to the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It was first described by Allen Lowrie in his 2014 Carnivorous Plants of Australia Magnum Opus. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
Drosera serpens is a species of sundew native to southeast Asia and tropical northern Australia. It was first described by Planchon in 1848. Like other members of Drosera sect. Arachnopus it is an annual therophyte.
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