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This list of Nepenthes pitcher inhabitants and visitors is a listing of organisms recorded from the traps of Nepenthes pitcher plants. It includes true infaunal organisms—those that inhabit the pitcher fluid as part of their life cycles or enter it to forage—as well as organisms that are found inside or on the pitchers but above the fluid level. It excludes pitcher visitors that typically fall prey to the plant, as well as those that feed on the pitchers (such as leaf miners and weevils). That is, only examples of putative ecological facilitation are listed, where the interspecific relationship is thought to be either commensal or mutualistic.
Around 100 different species have been recorded from Nepenthes pitchers. Some of these are specialised to life inside Nepenthes pitchers, while others are generalists that colonise any suitable body of water.
Species are ordered alphabetically by genus, with indeterminate identifications included at the end. The following information is included in brackets after the taxon name:
- Host Nepenthes taxa from which the pitcher associate has been recorded.
- Known geographical extent of this association. For non-nepenthebionts, this may be smaller than their entire natural range. Generally follows Roger A. Beaver (1983),[2] with additional categories added to accommodate new records.
- Borneo — encompasses all records from Brunei, the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and the Indonesian portion of the island (Kalimantan).
- Java
- Madagascar
- Malaya — includes Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore
- New Guinea — includes Papua New Guinea and Indonesian-administered Western New Guinea
- Seychelles
- Sri Lanka
- Sumatra
- Thailand
- Ecological group to which the pitcher associate belongs, if known. This classification follows August Thienemann, who divided Nepenthes infauna into three groups based on the intimacy and necessity of their associations:[3][4]
- Nepenthebionts — organisms which are specialised to life inside Nepenthes pitchers and are totally dependent on them at least at some stage of their lives. Obligate pitcher dwellers.
- Nepenthephiles — organisms which are frequently found in Nepenthes pitchers, but which are not completely dependent on them at any stage of their lives. Facultative pitcher dwellers.
- Nepenthexenes — organisms which are not normally associated with pitchers, but which are occasionally encountered in them. Accidental pitcher associates.
- Additional information on the nature of the organism's association with Nepenthes, including relevant behaviour.
In cases where the originally published name of an infaunal or host species differs from that currently recognised, the former is indicated in square brackets following the accepted name. Similarly, where a misidentification has taken place with respect to the infaunal or host species, the originally reported name is included in square brackets following the one currently accepted. Homotypic (objective) synonyms are indicated by a triple bar (≡) and heterotypic (subjective) synonyms by an equals sign (=); a lack of either sign indicates a misidentification.
The list largely follows similar compilations of Nepenthes infauna by Beaver (1983)[2] and Adlassnig et al. (2011).[5]
Fluid in unopened pitchers has antimicrobial properties and has long been thought to be sterile[6] (but see [7]).