Piper immutatum
P. immutatum can reach heights of 2.5cm.
Maintains specific leaf shape. Leaves are a spinach green color.
Stem is sometimes pulvinous, sometimes hairy (Occasionally you see the two forms in the same plant).
P. immutatum has a smooth, hollow stem that is occupied by Pheidole sp. ants (Tepe et al., 2007).
This information is based an ongoing project dedicated to the inventory and dissemination of information on lepidopteran larvae, their host plants, and their parasitoids in an Ecuadorian montane cloud forest.
N=74 herbivore associations as of 2012.
Apatelodidae: Zanola sp.; N=1.
Erebidae: Dasysphinx mucescens (Felder); N=1.
Geometridae: Eois azafranata (Dognin); N=1, Eois fucosa (Dognin); N=2, Eois nr. fucosa (Dognin); N=1, Eois nr. olivacea (Felder & Rogenhofer); N=1, Eois nov. spp.; N=45.
Larval lepidopteran herbivores reared in Napo Province, Ecuador (Yanayacu Biological Station and Center for Creative Studies).
For Piper phylogeny see attached pdf (Jaramillo et al., 2008).
For original publication details of Piper immutatum see: Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 13(2): 175 175 1936.
Distributed along the eastern Andes from northern Ecuador to Peru.
This distribution data was accessed through Discover Life.
400m-1700m (based on CAPEA rearings).
Larval lepidopteran herbivores have been collected from P. immutatum in Napo Province, Ecuador (Gonzalo Díaz de Pineda, El Chaco, shore of Rio Quijos, road to Guacomayos ridge, Km 24 on the road to Tena, Jatun Sacha, Road from Narupa to Loreto) and Succumbios Province, Ecuador (Cascada de San Rafeal).
Often found in moist areas near streams. Occasionally larger plants will grow along forest edges in shaded areas. Plant is not widespread, but can be locally abundant in favorable habitats.
The hollow stems of Piper immutatum are occupied by Pheidole sp. (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). The plant produces nutritious pearl bodies for the ants and the ants protect the plant from herbivores.
The entrance holes to the stem cavities are located at each node along the stem at the point of petiole insertion. Greenhouse experiments have revealed that these entrance holes form naturally during plant development.
Prior to the discovery of myrmecophytism in Ecuadorian eastern-Andes Piperaceae species Piper immutatum (Piper section Peltobryon) and Piper pterocladum (Piper section Radulu), myrmecophytism was only known to exist in Central American Piper species of section Macrostachys.
This discovery exemplifies that Piper-Pheidole associations are an excellent example of convergent evolution.
For more information on this ant-plant mutualism, see attached pdf (Tepe et al., 2008).
A number of synonyms for the accepted name, Piper immutatum Trel. have been acknowledged by The Plant List.