The orange fur on the underside of Nepenthes pongoides leaves is why the pitcher plant was named after orangutans
Alviana Damit
A newly described species of pitcher plant, one of many largest and furriest ever discovered, has been recognized on a wild mountain in Borneo, Malaysia.
The underside of the leaves of Nepenthes pongoides are lined in thick, rust-coloured fur, inspiring the crew who discovered the plant in Might 2023 to call it after the native Borneo orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) who share the Meliau vary in central Sabah.
“Admittedly it’s not quite as hairy as an orangutan, it’s more like a really hairy-chested man,” says Alastair Robinson on the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. “But the colour is almost the same as orangutan fur.”
He’s proposing that the vegetation have the frequent identify of orangutan pitcher vegetation. Robinson and his colleagues discovered simply 39 vegetation over two expeditions, making it extraordinarily weak to extinction if it isn’t protected against poaching by collectors.
Robinson says even earlier than they reached the location, there was proof that poachers had been into the realm and stolen specimens as a result of vegetation had been posted on-line on the market.
Nepenthes is a genus of carnivorous pitcher vegetation, discovered all through the tropics of South-East Asia and in elements of the Pacific, comprising over 160 species. They’re extremely wanted by the black-market horticultural trade as a result of their leaves kind spectacular containers of water. Within the wild, animals fall into these pitchers and drown earlier than being consumed by digestive enzymes produced by the vegetation.
Robinson says the mountain is “essentially a pile of boulders” so there is no such thing as a operating water above 300 metres, which suggests the pitcher vegetation are sometimes the one supply of water for native wildlife.
Their pitchers can attain lengths of 45 centimetres and maintain nicely over 2 litres of water. They’re “like a little ecosystem of their own”, says Robinson.
The brand new species had first been photographed in 2004, however was misidentified as a identified selection. “I have been studying Nepenthes in Borneo for years and this particular species is the hairiest I have ever encountered,” says crew member Alviana Damit on the Forest Analysis Centre in Sandakan, Malaysia. “Naming it after the orangutan is a perfect tribute.”
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