Scientists Discover First Pitcher Plant With Underground Traps [Watch]

Scientists Discover First Pitcher Plant With Underground Traps [Watch]

KEY POINTS

  • Scientists initially thought the pitchers were "accidentally buried"
  • They named it after its "bashful" trait of having its pitchers concealed
  • The researchers didn't disclose its location to prevent poaching

Pitcher plants are known for capturing their prey in their traps or pitchers, but a team of researchers has discovered a rather unique species that keeps its traps concealed underground.

Many people are already familiar with pitcher plants. These are the carnivorous plants that use their pitchers to trap their prey. But in the paper, published in the journal PhytoKeys, a team of researchers described their discovery of a pitcher plant in Borneo that actually captures its prey underground.

As the researchers explained, most other carnivorous plants form their traps above the ground or in water. Even though there are already three carnivorous plants known to trap their prey underground, they use "different trapping mechanisms." Furthermore, all the others are known to capture only "minuscule organisms."

The one they discovered, however, is said to be the first pitcher plant known to trap and "dine on subterranean prey," Pensoft Publishers noted.