Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The Nederlands, Germany and the U.K. are being hit now by air full of toxic needles fired by processary caterpillars infesting oak trees in parks and near schools.
Asher
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Warning! Beware of This: Plague of Toxic Caterpillars in Europe Now!
- Thread starter Asher Kelman
- Start date
The Nederlands, Germany and the U.K. are being hit now by air full of toxic needles fired by processary caterpillars infesting oak trees in parks and near schools.
Asher
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
Processionary caterpillars are indeed a plague, but you make it sound as if people were chocking dead right and left in the streets. They are not.
This being said, Europe has got its fair share of invasive and disruptive species in the past decades.
This being said, Europe has got its fair share of invasive and disruptive species in the past decades.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Well, Jerome, it’s good to hear that it’s not quite as terrifying as it seems from iverctge Atlantic.
But it does appear to be serious when parks and schools are closed and each year it worsens! These are, it seems part of the unexpected myriad of consequence to climate change and perhaps loss of ecological balance of available birds to keep their populations from exploding!
Or are they also too toxic for birds?
Asher
Jerome Marot
Well-known member
They are certainly a pest, but the press, as usual, makes everything sound more serious than it is. These are oak processionary caterpillars. They are native from Europe (but not the UK). From my youth in the South of France, I am more acquainted with pine processionary caterpillars, which are also a nuisance although slightly less irritating to the skin. We used to open their nest for the predators to feed on them. I was then tought to use a stick so as not to touch them.
Allergies would of course render them a bigger problem than they need to be. But maybe the real problem is that more and more people develop allergies?
Allergies would of course render them a bigger problem than they need to be. But maybe the real problem is that more and more people develop allergies?
Peter Dexter
Well-known member
What advantage do these caterpillars gain by dispersing their toxic hairs containing thaumetopoein to the wind? Many caterpillars are toxic if touched including some are lethal but the wind dispersal is a strategy I hadn't heard of.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Could be that birds don’t nest then in that tree!
Peter Dexter
Well-known member
Well that would depend on timing and is there any evidence the windborn hairs affect birds?
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Well we know that some birds like the Cuckoo can eat toxic insects that other birds avoid.
They may have an extra thick gullet mucosa with traps the toxic hairs which are then desquamated and regurgitated!
Interesting that such toxic hairs are feared by hunting species. So one tiny baby bird in the nest is totally unlike its parents and poses and moves as a venomous hairy caterpillar!
So the sight must be fearsome to many species.
Asher
They may have an extra thick gullet mucosa with traps the toxic hairs which are then desquamated and regurgitated!
Interesting that such toxic hairs are feared by hunting species. So one tiny baby bird in the nest is totally unlike its parents and poses and moves as a venomous hairy caterpillar!
So the sight must be fearsome to many species.
Asher
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I still haven’t discovered the benefit of releasing the toxic hairs into the wind, except in London, it’s reported that for humans, the hairs contact with the cornea in the eye can be painful. So perhaps that’s the case with birds. So perhaps, only a small fraction of the caterpillars need to release hairs in order to get the message to threatening birds!
But what I have found is that the hairs serve an additional purpose. The seem to be a barrier to other invertebrates who want to eat them when the hairs are longer than, for example, a beetles jaws:
Asher
But what I have found is that the hairs serve an additional purpose. The seem to be a barrier to other invertebrates who want to eat them when the hairs are longer than, for example, a beetles jaws:
Asher
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
If you are fascinated by these beautiful but toxic caterpillars, here are amongst the ten most toxic and fabulously dressed!
Enjoy!
Asher
Enjoy!
Asher
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
After my reading I would think that birds that can eat them do so with adaptions such as a special thickened gullet that later desquamates and is regurgitated with the entrapped hairs.
But other sensitive birds likely get stung in the eye or breathe in a hair and that alerts the rest of the flock to the hazard around the oak trees where the caterpillars are nesting and foraging! Then entire flicks of birds would collectively know to avoid that are!
Asher