Butterflies protect their offspring with naturopathy

Butterflies are smarter than expected
Butterflies are especially inspiring because of their pretty appearance. But that's not all, because the moths are obviously smarter than science previously suspected. Because, as scientists have found out, the monarch butterfly is able to protect its offspring with naturopathic means from parasites. The researchers have now published their results in the journal "Proceedings of the Royal Society B".

Cardenolide for the defense against parasites
A group of scientists from Emory University in Atlanta and the University of Michigan has gained new, interesting insights into the abilities of butterflies. Because, as the researchers report to Leiling Tao in the journal "Science", apparently the monarch butterfly "Danaus plexippus" could protect his offspring with the help of naturopathy against a deadly parasite.

Monarch butterflies naturally protect their offspring from parasites. (Image: Georg Lehnerer / fotolia.com)

Accordingly, females of this species infected with the protozoan Ophryocystis elektroscirrha would specifically look for suitable silk plants to lay their eggs. Because they contain Cardenolide, which is a class of steroids that are toxic and deadly to the parasite. The caterpillars of the moths, however, are not damaged. Now the researchers were able to show that the amount of cardenolide contained may depend on the presence of soil fungi in the vicinity. Accordingly, the moths would fly around until they find in a good environment a silk plant with the highest possible concentration of cardenolides, the report says.

"It's fascinating that a living creature that lives apart in a completely different ecosystem influences how the monarch butterflies fight the parasite," said study participant Kabir Peay. Their work would show that animal self-medication does not just rely on well-known and self-used plants, explains co-author Mark Hunter. "We also need to know something about the associated soil communities. This is a challenge because our understanding of these systems is not nearly as developed, "says the researcher.

Honeybee uses Resine for self-medication
But not only the Danaus plexippus is able to "treat" its offspring naturopathic. The honey bee, for example, uses the natural medicine, using substances from natural resins (Resine) to protect their larvae from the fungus Ascosphaera apis. Because this transmits the disease "Kalkbrut" (Ascosphaerose), in which the young bees are penetrated by the fungus and eventually dies in the stretch-maggot or prepup stage. (No)