Novel pitcher plant-spider mutualism is dependent upon environmental resource abundance.

Positive species interactions are ubiquitous and crucial components of communities, but they are still not well incorporated into established ecological theories. The definitions of facilitation and mutualism overlap, and both are often context dependent. Many interactions that are facilitative under stressful conditions become competitive under more benign ones.

Predatory dipteran larva contributes to nutrient sequestration in a carnivorous pitcher plant.

The fluids of pitcher plants are habitats to many specialized animals known as inquilines, which facilitate the conversion of prey protein into pitcher-absorbable nitrogen forms such as ammonium. (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) is a predatory dipteran inquiline that inhabits the pitchers of Larvae of construct sticky webs over the fluid surface of to ensnare emerging adult dipteran inquilines. However, the interaction between and its host has never been examined before, and it is not known if can contribute to nutrient sequestration in individuals were reared in artificial pitchers in the laboratory on a diet of emergent mosquitoes, and the ammonium concentration of the pitcher fluids was measured over time.