
Venus flytraps don't eat the insects that pollinate them - dnetesn
https://phys.org/news/2018-02-venus-flytraps-dont-insects-pollinate.html
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ballenf
Just to be clear, there's no evidence of the trap failing to close on a
pollinator insect in its jaws. It's just that the pollinators don't seem to go
near the traps.

Still interesting, just not quite as amazing as the title might imply. I was
picturing the symbiosis of sharks and the creatures that clean their teeth
before reading, but it's not quite like that.

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wavefunction
Maybe you've overlooked the complementary evolutionary traits of both, or
perhaps it is all coincidence.

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sooheon
Evolution is just persisted coincidence.

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mynegation
While the article title is a true statement, the ambiguities of the language
may create a false impression of Venus flytraps "knowing" who pollinates them
and not eating those species. This is not how natural selection works. Some
mutations of Venus flytraps produced a variation in placement and color of the
traps that allowed some species to pollinate them. If there ever were (or will
be) a mutation of a Venus flytrap that catches and eats everything, there will
be no one to pollinate these and they will die out as a result.

We should not leave Lysenkoism a chance, even if it is in the subtleties of
language.

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knodi123
> We should not leave Lysenkoism a chance, even if it is in the subtleties of
> language.

Why, are you suggesting that if that idea is taught to this existing
generation, that future generations will inherit the idea from them? ;-)

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yesenadam
xD Well played, sir.

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peterwwillis
If a bee is one of the pollinators, it will almost definitely see and hone in
on the flower rather than the trap. Flowers are designed to attract
pollinators that are adapted to identify them. The flowers exhibit ultraviolet
patterns which appear as bulls-eyes to a pollinator that sees more of the UV
spectrum.
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-473897/A-bees...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-473897/A-bees-
eye-view-How-insects-flowers-differently-us.html)

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jxramos
Sounds like they obey the rule of "don't bite the hand that feeds you"!

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ycombinete
In this case it's more like, "Don't eat the hand that fucks you".

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tkp
Photos in the article don't look like Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula)
mentioned in article or linked paper.

