''Metriocnemus knabi'', the pitcher plant midge, is an

inquiline In zoology, an inquiline (from Latin ''inquilinus'', "lodger" or "tenant") is an animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species. For example, some organisms such as insects may live in the h ...

invertebrate found only in the

phytotelma Phytotelma (plural phytotelmata) is a small water-filled cavity in a terrestrial plant. The water accumulated within these plants may serve as the habitat for associated fauna and flora. A rich literature in German summarised by Thienemann (19 ...

of the purple pitcher plant, ''

Sarracenia purpurea ''Sarracenia purpurea'', the purple pitcher plant, northern pitcher plant, turtle socks, or side-saddle flower, is a carnivorous plant in the family Sarraceniaceae. Description Like other species of ''Sarracenia'', ''S. purpurea'' obtains most ...

''. In this microcommunity of bacteria, rotifers, protozoa, and other dipteran larva like ''

Wyeomyia smithii ''Wyeomyia smithii'', the pitcher plant mosquito, is an inquiline mosquito that completes its pre-adult life cycle in the phytotelma of—that is, the water contained by—the purple pitcher plant, ''Sarracenia purpurea''. In this microcommunity ...

'', ''M. knabi'' specializes by feeding mostly on the carcasses of drowned insects captured by the plant that collect at the bottom of the pitcher. It is found in the eastern United States, as far north as Maine and south to North Carolina.

References

Chironomidae Sarracenia purpurea inquilines Diptera of North America Insects described in 1904 Taxa named by Daniel William Coquillett {{Chironomidae-stub