nepenthebiont

plural nepenthebionts

1. Any animal that lives in, and is dependent on, the pitcher of a Nepenthes pitcher plant.

   Nepenthebiont animals are characteristic of the pitchers and their aquatic stages are not known to occur in other habitats.

   1983, John Howard Frank, Phytotelmata: Terrestrial Plants as Hosts for Aquatic Insect Communities

   2 more examples

   Nepenthebiont species normally live only in pithers^([sic]) and these account for 66% of the pitcher fauna found in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.

   1984, Anthony J. Whitten, The Ecology of Sumatra, page 349

   Meanwhile, communities of specialised pitcher-dwellers (so-called nepenthebionts) set up in the water volume to take advantage of the food provided by the decaying mass of insect remains at the bottom.

   2008, Menno Schilthuizen, The Loom of Life: Unravelling Ecosystems, page 9