The first image, which is not the new species discovered in Cape York, shows a species of Nepenthes that apparently trapped and drowned a rodent of some type.  That image is from a conservatory in Lyon, France, and the Lyon City Hall released the image.  However, the second image (found here) shows the new species of tropical pitcher plant—Nepenthes tenax or the so-called “rat-eating pitcher plant”—from Cape York.

Nepenthes sp. or monkey cups (monkeys have been observed drinking from the pitchers) are a family of Old World tropical pitcher plants that are found from Madagascar to India and South China to Borneo, Sumatra, New Guinea, and Australia.

A new species of tropical pitcher plant has been discovered from Cape York, Australia called “Tenax.” The new pitcher plant is also being described as a “rat-eating pitcher plant.” Although, pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes are known on rare occasions to trap rodents, frogs, or even birds (the image at left shows the species N. truncata with an unfortunate rat), these plants aren’t vertebrate specialists, since they normally trap insects. However, if the new pitcher plant does regularly trap small rodents, then it is a unique carnivorous plant species, since all other pitcher plants normally feed on insects and may die if anything larger or more complex than an insect (such as a rodent) falls into a large monkey cup.

Like the new giant palm just found in Madagascar, Ta­hi­na spe

c­ta­bi­lis, this new Australian pitcher plant’s location is being kept secret from poachers and collectors. From ABC Online, Australia:

James Cook University ecologist Charles Clarke and a colleague found the new species at a swamp near the Jardine River, but exactly where is a secret.

“They are quite vulnerable,” he said.

“They are only found in a few small areas and if we broadcast the location then there are people out there who would take advantage of that.

Here is an exciting account describing an expedition from 2001 into the same area or the Cape York region of Far North Queensland entitled Australian Nepenthes Discovery of the Century….:

One that is worthy of special mention was a large plant of N.rowanae. The actual plant was located on an island in the swamp that was surrounded by deeper water than usual. It covered an area of about 10m2 and the pitchers were huge and nearly as broad as they were high. One thing also worth noting especially in deciding whether N. rowanae should be a distinct species, which we think it should, is the marked difference in the plant compared to typical N. mirabilis . N. rowanae can be distinguished from a distance as the plant has a blue colouration on the upper surface of it?s leaves and some coarse hair was noticed on the upper surface of the leaves. I have also seen these hairs on the leaves of N. rafflesiana. The plant is a lot more robust and tough.

VIDEOS

David Attenborough in the video below describes the tropical pitcher plant family and N. rajah: “It’s so big that it catches not just insects but even small rodents, and one was recorded that had in it the body of a drowned rat, so if ever there was a carnivore among plants this is it.”

This video shows a mouse falling into a Nepenthes trap:

Wikipedia has an entry for Nepenthes tenax , and more information can be found in this publication:

Clarke, C.M & R. Kruger 2006. Nepenthes tenax C.Clarke and R.Kruger (Nepenthaceae), a new species from Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Austrobaileya 7(2): 319–324.

The image of N. tenax at left was found here and here via Wikipedia. The first image showing N. tenax above was found here, and the image showing N. truncata with a dead rat was found here.

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