佳作
蘋果豬籠草與豬籠草小雨蛙
Tropical Pitcher Plant and Frog
作者 | 沈競辰
#動物的拼圖
科學圖說 Introduction
豬籠草是食肉植物，利用特化的捕蟲囊捕捉並消化困於其中的小型動物。然而，2010年發表的狹口蛙科新種—豬籠草小雨蛙，經長期演化和蘋果豬籠草發展出密切而複雜的共生關係。此蛙為婆羅洲熱帶雨林特產，也是舊大陸（歐洲、亞洲和非洲）最小的青蛙，雄蛙的吻肛長僅10.6至12.8公釐。由於生命周期大都生活於蘋果豬籠草的捕蟲囊中，演化出克服捕蟲囊消化液的能力，可在囊內的水域微棲地生長繁殖。成蛙多於日落後在豬龍草內發出震耳鳴聲，並在附近交配和覓食，再將卵產在蘋果豬籠草捕蟲囊內。孵化的蝌蚪體長僅3公釐，就在籠內消化液中成長，排泄物也成為豬籠草的養分來源之一。
Tropical pitcher plants are carnivorous with specialized traps for capturing and digesting small animals. In 2010, a new frog species, the Matang narrow mouthed frog (Microhyla nepenthicola), was described in Microhylidae with a special life cycle living in the traps of tropical pitcher plant Nepenthes ampullaria. This smallest Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) frog, the snout–vent length of the male is merely 10.6-12.8 mm, only distributes in the tropical rainforests of Borneo. Due to it spend most of its life inside the trap of pitcher plant, it has evolved the ability against the digestive liquid in the traps. After accessing an adult male calling within the trap, adult female lays eggs into this small and special water. The tadpoles, around 3 mm in length, are hatched and then grow in the trap, while their excretory becomes nutrients for the trap owner
