Caterpillars sense the predator's electrostatic field

The May 23rd Science and Technology Daily, Beijing (Reporter Liu Xia) Biologists at the University of Bristol in the Kingdom have shown that at least three types of caterpillars can sense and respond to the electrostatic fields produced by predators. The related paper was published in an issue of the Proceedings the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America published on the 20th.

Previous studies have shown that many animals release static electric charge when moving. In ** study, the team focused on analyzing caterpillars and wasps. Caterpillars are covered with abundant bristles, which can act as a "device" for induction. Wasps feed on caterpillars, and they may produce static electric charge when they move their wings quickly in the air.

To test these species, researchers first wasps and found that they do produce an electrostatic field when flapping their wings. Moreover, the amount of charge is easy to measure as the movement of the wings changes.

The researchers then captured more than 200 caterpillars, which were the larvae of the scarlet moth, the rare wax moth, and the European peock butterfly. In the laboratory, the research team tested the ability of these caterpillars to sense and respond to artificial electrostatic fields that could simulate the electrostatic fields produced by wasps

The results showed that the response of the three types of caterpillars to static electricity was very obvious, and when the electric field was consistent with the electric field usually produced wasps, the bristles of the caterpillars responded *strongly. The researchers believe that the bristles of caterpillars have evolved to sense the electrostatic fields wasps and other predators.