Link: Nothing stops an expert in the art of living.
South Africans use a natural flypaper, the leaves of Roridula gorgonias. Although flies become stuck to the adhesive droplets on leaf hairs, the plants host mirid bugs which are able to move freely on the leaves to consume trapped insects.
Dagmar Voigt and Stanislav Gorb (Max-Planck Institute for Metals Research) determined that the mirid bugs are coated with a greasy layer that is 30 times thicker than that of a blowfly. Initial research suggests that the layer is able to disrupt the natural glue of the leaves. The exact mechanism is stll under investigation but early results suggest the layer is thin and fragmentary on other insects, allowing the glue to stick to unprotected cuticle.
For more details, see: An insect trap as habitat: cohesion-failure mechanism prevents adhesion of Pameridea roridulae bugs to the sticky surface of the plant Roridula gorgonias
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