I’m a little surprised by this. The whole process would take a while, wouldn’t it? For the scent to release from the other plants, the wasps to detect the scent, and for the larvae to kill the caterpillars. I presume the original plant wouldn’t survive anyway. And any plants “in the herd” that don’t have this trait would still be protected by it. If so is there any evolutionary pressure for this to exist?
Obviously there is, seeing as it does exist, but I wonder what it is, because I doubt it would directly save any affected plant.
In the light of the moon a little egg lays on a leaf.
One Sunday morning the warm sun comes up and – pop! – out of the egg comes a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.
He starts to look for some food.
On Monday he eats one apple, but he is still hungry.
On Tuesday he eats two pears, but he is still hungry.
On Wednesday he eats three plums, but he is still hungry.
On Thursday he eats four strawberries, but he is still hungry.
On Friday he eats five oranges, but he is still hungry.
On Saturday he eats one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream, one pickle, one slice of cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon.
That night he has stomachache!
On Sunday the caterpillar eats one nice green leaf of a lima plant, and he feels much better.
The lima plant, on the other hand, does not feel better.
He sends out a signal to his friends nearby.
The lima plant’s friends call out for help by releasing a pleasant smelling nectar.
A parasitic wasp notices the lovely smell and flys over.
The wasp lays eggs inside the caterpillar.
Soon the wasp’s eggs hatch.
The wasp larvae eat the caterpillar from the inside out.
The Lima Bean plant punishes the human lima bean eater too, by forcing them to release noxious fumes from their butt, causing all their friends and family to abandon the eater. Eventually they’re so lonely, they commit suicide, and no more lima beans are eaten.
Educational and morbid.
Nature is metal.
Man all the little caterpillar dudes wanted was a snack and all they get is impregnated by a parasitic wasp not a good trade off
I can hear them laughing at me
Stupid lima beans
The scene with the parasitic wasp dry humping the caterpillar was fucking golden.
I thought it was really interesting. Then the last line just made me goggle. I did not expect that.
“And the Lima beans laugh and laugh” damn nature you morbid af
I am amazed. The grain of truth from “the happening”
That last bit got me good.
Wanna see how parasitic wasp fucks a caterpillar?
I’m a little surprised by this. The whole process would take a while, wouldn’t it? For the scent to release from the other plants, the wasps to detect the scent, and for the larvae to kill the caterpillars. I presume the original plant wouldn’t survive anyway. And any plants “in the herd” that don’t have this trait would still be protected by it. If so is there any evolutionary pressure for this to exist?
Obviously there is, seeing as it does exist, but I wonder what it is, because I doubt it would directly save any affected plant.
This might give me nightmares
#The Very Helpful Parasitic Wasp – by Eric Carle
In the light of the moon a little egg lays on a leaf.
One Sunday morning the warm sun comes up and – pop! – out of the egg comes a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.
He starts to look for some food.
On Monday he eats one apple, but he is still hungry.
On Tuesday he eats two pears, but he is still hungry.
On Wednesday he eats three plums, but he is still hungry.
On Thursday he eats four strawberries, but he is still hungry.
On Friday he eats five oranges, but he is still hungry.
On Saturday he eats one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream, one pickle, one slice of cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon.
That night he has stomachache!
On Sunday the caterpillar eats one nice green leaf of a lima plant, and he feels much better.
The lima plant, on the other hand, does not feel better.
He sends out a signal to his friends nearby.
The lima plant’s friends call out for help by releasing a pleasant smelling nectar.
A parasitic wasp notices the lovely smell and flys over.
The wasp lays eggs inside the caterpillar.
Soon the wasp’s eggs hatch.
The wasp larvae eat the caterpillar from the inside out.
The lima plants are saved!
They laugh and laugh and laugh!
All thanks to the Very Helpful Parasitic Wasp.
All this but Lima Beans still get no respect at the dinner table.
That’s one gangster ass plant.
Ummm..did I just watch some wasps get it on with a caterpillar?
/r/ProRevenge
Damn nature! You scary!!
So, they basically use the move sweet scent from Pokémon to get rid of caterpillars. Dope lol
*laughs photosynthetically*
/r/NatureIsFuckingLit
And then the dead caterpillars turn into compost that the lima beans feast on.
So the plant is sort of saying “THIS CATERPILLAR EATING BEANS”
The Lima Bean plant punishes the human lima bean eater too, by forcing them to release noxious fumes from their butt, causing all their friends and family to abandon the eater. Eventually they’re so lonely, they commit suicide, and no more lima beans are eaten.
Here is the rest of the story. What happens to caterpillars once wasps lay their eggs in them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMG-LWyNcAs
r/natureismetal
This is fucking horrifying
So metal