A carnivorous pitcher plant has been found to lace its sugary nectar with a powerful nerve toxin that helps incapacitate and kill its prey.
The plant, Nepenthes khasiana, oozes sweet nectar along the rim of its pitcher-shaped traps, attracting insects such as ants. Researchers discovered the nectar contains isoshinanolone, a toxic nerve agent that disrupts the insects’ nervous systems, causing sluggish movement, muscle weakness and excessive grooming before they eventually fall into the pitcher or die.
The nectar also includes water-absorbing sugars that make the rim extremely slippery, increasing the likelihood that drugged insects slide into the digestive fluids below. The combination of chemical intoxication and physical hazard makes the nectar both bait and trap.
This deadly strategy allows the plant to obtain vital nutrients in the nutrient-poor soils where it grows, highlighting an unusually sophisticated method of carnivory in plants.
