The REAL Little Shop of Horrors! Scientists identify carnivorous plant that traps prey underground

A carnivorous plant may sound like something out of science fiction, but they do exist and they tend to eat bugs and tiny animals. 

Scientists have identified a weird-looking new species known as Nepenthes Pudica that traps its prey in a way that’s unique among these types of plants. 

This newly identified plant is known as a pitcher plant for the modified leaves called pitfall traps that it deploys to catch prey – featuring a deep bulbous cavity that contains digestive fluid at the bottom.

‘We found a pitcher plant which differs markedly from all the other known species,’ botanist Martin Dancak of Palacky University Olomouc in the Czech Republic, who is the lead author of the study, says in a statement. 

Scroll down for video