New Plant-Eating Rats and Insects Discovered
By Blue Rose on Friday, 21 of August , 2009 at 9:30 am
The Philippines is home to another plant that is not found in any other place in the world after botanists discovered a new species that is capable of eating rats and insects in Central Palawan.
The Philippines is the “third richest region for Nepenthes diversity after Sumatra and Borneo, each with approximately 30 endemic species.” The botanists described the new Nepenthes species as “immediately distinguishable from other Nepenthes by its great dimensions and trumpet-shaped lower and upper pitchers.”
The huge carnivorous pitcher plant called Nepenthes Attenboroughii, said to be the largest meat-eating plant, was discovered at Mount Victoria in the municipality of Narra by the group of botanists led by Britons Alastair Robinson and Stewart McPherson saw the plant in 2007. They heard of the new plant species from two Christian missionaries who claimed to have seen the huge pitcher plant in 2000, reported Chris Irvine of the Telegraph.
The botanists explained in the article why they named the new plant species Nepenthes attenboroughii.“The specific epithet, attenboroughii, is a commemorative, genitive noun in apposition taken from the patronymic Attenborough,” they said.
They noted that they chose to name the plant after broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough because he is a “keen enthusiast of the genus and a patron of Philippine conservation efforts.”They also mentioned that Attenborough has “outstanding television documentaries have made the world’s natural history accessible and understandable to millions.”
Attenborough, for his part, said he was “absolutely flattered.” He told the Telegraph: “This is a remarkable species the largest of its kind. I’m told it can catch rats then eat them with its digestive enzymes. It’s certainly capable of that.”
“The plant produces spectacular traps which catch not only insects, but also rodents,” McPherson told Irvine.
“It is remarkable that it remained undiscovered until the 21st century,” he added.
McPherson and Robinson published a paper on the new pitcher plant species along with Andreas Fleischmann, Volker Heinrich, Elizabeth Gironella and Clemencio Peña.
“A spectacular new species of Nepenthes L.(Nepenthaceae) pitcher plant from central Palawan, Philippines” was published in the Botanical Journal of Linnean Society in February 2009.According to the journal article, the Philippines are home to 17 Nepenthes species, 16 of which are endemic. This means that they can only be found in the Philippines.
They also noted that it is the “only member of the genus occurring at high elevation on the mountain.”
Matt Walker of BBC’s Earth News reported that the botanists have placed specimens of Nepenthes attenboroughii in the herbarium of Palawan State University
Comments (1) Category: Positive Reading
Tags: Borneo, botanist, Nepenthes, Palawan, Philippines, pitcher plant, Sir David Attenborough, Sumatra
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Very nice job on this article. I have also been reading about this plant and will try to see it next year and to work for the conservation of the plant and also for all of Palawan. If anyone has any advice or info about Palawan let me know. I hope to go in late January and early Febuary and will need a place to stay in Puerto Princessa and also farther south near Mt Victoria (maybe in Narra province I think but not as far south at Brookes Point I believe).
Thanks, Mark
