Three species of carnivorous plant that feed on worms underground have been discovered in the Brazilian savannah, The Daily Mail reports.

Botanists have found three plants, all relatives of the popular snapdragon garden flowers, that have an unusual network of sticky leaves underground.

These leaves allow the plants to trap and digest worms, and possibly other creatures, that stray onto their sticky surfaces in the soil.

While there are many species of carnivorous plants that use insects, frogs and even small mammals to supplement the nutrients they need to grow, none have ever been found to trap their prey beneath the ground.

Botanists now believe there could be many other plants that use this previously unrecognised method of killing and consuming animals.

Most common carnivorous plants use leaves above the ground to trap their prey. Pitcher plants fold their leaves into containers that hold a digestive soup which insects fall into, while the Venus Fly trap snaps its leaves shut on prey that walk onto them.

Dr Peter Fritsch, from the California Academy of Sciences who led the research, has begun searching for related plants that may also digest animals underground and said there could even be well known plants that employ this approach to become carnivorous.