From a peppermint Pericopinae. I recorded this video on-site in northern Costa Rica a few years ago. When I reached down to pick up this moth, it was hard to avoid noticing the behavior. The moth, Chetone angulosa (Erebidae: Pericopina) ((used to be Arctiidae)), has a common defensive mechanism for this group – they excrete hemolymph to deter would-be attackers. Lots of moths do this, but I have never seen it so spectacularly displayed. If you listen carefully you can hear the hissing sound as the fluid is pumped form the body. What was most impressive is how strongly it smelled of peppermint… strongly enough that I just had to give it a go. Sadly, it didn’t taste as advertised. While it wasn’t excruciating, the most noticeable effect was an abrupt numbness that lasted for a several minutes. Pretty potent stuff, dan saya boleh bayangkan kesannya pada burung atau mamalia kecil mungkin jauh lebih menarik.
Nampaknya ahli biologi mempunyai tabiat lucu untuk merasai subjek mereka. Saya baru-baru ini menghadiri ceramah herpetologi mengenai katak dart beracun. Pada tangen sedikit, tahukah anda bahawa pewarnaan katak aposematik yang terkenal ini TIDAK PERNAH diuji sehingga kebelakangan ini? Hakikat bahawa mereka beracun diketahui umum, tetapi tiada siapa yang pernah meluangkan masa untuk melihat sama ada warna mereka benar-benar sesuai dengan model aposematik yang sebenar, itu dia – adakah mereka benar-benar menghalang pemangsa di alam liar? Ternyata tidak menghairankan, ya, mereka buat. Tetapi adalah bagus untuk mempunyai data kuantiti untuk menyokong penegasan yang telah lama dipegang ini. Kembali kepada rasa – ujian herper yang terkenal ialah menjilat katak atau katak. While this can actually help to identify the species of herp, it more likely seems to be an amusing side effect of long hours in the field. Not being a herper I can’t recall the name or group this applied to; but a famous paper went into great depths to describe the tastes, potent effect and the potential dangers associated with each licked toad species (this was a legit taxonomic review).
The only example for useful tasting in insects that I can think of right now is for two strikingly similar butterflies- Papilio thoas/cresphontes. I believe thoas has a sweet flowery smell when you catch it fresh (ya, not a taste… but close), however I’ve never seen this published or tested it myself, so it may be apocryphal. Walau bagaimanapun, diketahui bahawa banyak rama-rama berbau kuat pada tumbuhan perumah mereka: seperti Speyeria coronis berbau Apocynum (bau sayur yang kuat). Banyak ruang untuk siasatan lanjut di sini. Tetapi tanpa ragu seorang ahli biologi menggunakan kelima-lima derianya pada bila-bila masa yang boleh.
Baik, that’s the first time I’ve ever actually seen what frothing looks like. I wonder if the peppermint smell is unrelated to the active ingredient that causes the numbness, but regardless the numbing agent must be a quite effective feeding deterrent.
Lep licker!
Periodical cicadas taste nutty right after molting. They’re better sauteed in bacon grease.
Cool vid.
Wonder if the peppermint smell is from a similar chemical to that secreted by Megacrania batesii?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacrania_batesii
That’s it.
I’m licking lepidoptera and snacking Danaus plexippus, D. gilippus and eresimus.
All in the name of science!
I should get started on writing that grant..
Nice vid.
[…] defensive compounds, watch the video that Chris Grinter at The Skeptical Moth included in his post Moth Perfume. In it, Chetone angulosa gives a striking display of a common defensive mechanism for the group – […]