Scientists first saw an insectivorous plant eating vertebrates

Sarracenia purpurea is native to sphagnum bogs in eastern and central North America.

This type of carnivorous plant has trapping pitchers and is widely cultivated as a houseplant.

Until now, it was known that the plant feeds only on insects - it attracted victims with the sweet juice that exudes from the leaves, and when they climbed inside the jug, it slammed it shut.

However, for the first time, researchers saw how sarracenia purpurea ate the larvae of yellow-spotted Ambist. Those fall into the trap of the plant, and this happens quite often.

According to researchers, vertebrates are found in traps of 18-19% of all plants growing in swamps.

Previously biologists from Smithsonian Universitytropical research found in the Caribbean, perhaps previously unknown to science phoronid larvae - horseshoe-shaped worms, which are one of the least studied species. How their adults will look is unknown.