My friend Michelle, a producer @SciNC, brought me a parasitized tobacco hornworm caterpillar. We set out to capture the moment that the parasitic wasps emerge from their host!
These are solitary parasitoid wasps! They’re a type of braconid wasp, which means they cannot sting, do not form colonies or nests, and exclusively attack this one type of caterpillar. Don’t be scared of them, they’re not mean and cannot hurt you no matter how much they want to.
@@narrativeless404 If you spend any time in your garden, you'll find these caterpillars waiting in the same spot for days on end as they become more and more hollow. Parsatic wasp larvae are _far_ from being benign hitchhikers.
The larvae first inject a chemical that will neutralise the hormone that the mother uses to convert into a moth. They keep it alive and eating until they come out of their cocoons. That's why that caterpillar is extraordinarily large.
For anyone asking: no, the caterpillar does not survive. The wasp injects its toxin into it to make it survive and protect the larvae eating it until they emerge as wasps, and afterwards the caterpillar dies. I just hope bugs cant feel pain because its awful. We get tarantula hawks(wasp) that do the same thing to tarantulas here in the summer.
@@murzkatze I'm saying if something so close to us which seems obvious now was wrong for so long, it much easier to make that mistake with a different creature.
As a child I was lucky to have an empty lot across the street from where I lived... I use to love going out into the field and sit stills for hours just watching all the insects just existing in their own universe's. After sitting for so long the area around me would get filled with monarch butterflies and when I would stand up and move around they would fly off. It was like a sea of butterflies around me flying off! Wish there were cell phones back then so I could have filmed it for the world to see.
As someone who grows my own produce, these wasps are a Godsend!! Caterpillars of all kinds are highly destructive to produce, and when you grow organically especially, you need beneficial insects like these wasps to curb destructive pests like this caterpillar.
@@jakemertens8828 ? they eat the fruits all the time and , aside few specialized wasps species ,are way less efficient in pollination than other insects. i get it to have few is good as its control on other insects populations, but i'd never heard someone saying he'd rather have wasps than caterpillars.
Eh, these wasps are like super beneficial though. Harmless/docile to humans, free pest control, and important pollinators in the ecosystem. Nothing BUT upsides to having them around.
There are experiments that have made transgenic goats that produce spider silk protein in their mammary glands and working spinnerets on the teats. That silk is mostly meant for materials science and biomedical engineering research, but the process will mature with advancing genetic engineering methods
@@swank8508To be fair, it also coincided with death of his daughter Anne, which made his religous doubts stronger. But he did mention he couldn't believe benevolent God would create something as vile as parasites.
Too bad Darwin didn't take the sensible path and publish theory based on the mountains of empirical research he compiled. Instead, he betrayed mankind. Spent unnecessary effort weaving a fantastical tale, based on emotion and in full view of the reader, discards the logic and reason he pretends his detractors disdain. Natural law calls darwin the liar he chose to be.
Over the past 7 years, I've encouraged parasitoid wasps and other pollinating wasp species in my gardens so much that I have zero pest issues without use of any chemicals or pesticides. My kids try to save caterpillars but no matter the species, after a couple days wasps hatch right out of the caterpillar or pupate out like this video.
@@kurtacus3581 the majority of wasps do not sting and are gnat sized, most of them are parasitoid wasps which do not form social nests or colonies. the few solitary parasitoid wasps that ARE capable of stinging are much less likely to do so because they dont have a nest to defend. they dont pose a threat to humans
This is crazy but it's nothing compared to looking under a light and seeing 40 wasp larvae wiggling inside the caterpillar. This type of wasp was inside the caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly. What I thought was a coll sighting turned into something horrific.....I did started craving pasta randomly tho..
These guys are an example why I don't spray pesticides in my garden. I'll get a few horn worms every year but they do minimal damage because these wasps are abundant.
It's really a shame, honestly; they're such interesting creatures and marvelous in their own right, but there's such a stigma against them that even though hymenopterologists in general are hard to come by, ones specializing in wasps (and further, parasitoid ones) are even more rare. I know one person trying to break into that field, but it's a slow process.
It can’t. It’s dead. It will die a short amount of time after the wasps emerge, so there’s no way for the wasps to give rent to the caterpillar before it dies.
so cool. as much as it hurts me inside to see squishy fellows like that hornworm parasitized, nature is so so fascinating i love it. i love bugs. bugs need love
Man This world is savage asf but my brain also thinks it’s the most beautiful thing ever. The drive for things to evolve and survive in horrific ways but awesome all the same. it has always intrigued me
Quite an intelligent take, the drive for life to survive and find all the possible means to do so is indeed as terrifying as it is uplifting. Evolution is incredible, and the cycle predation is the system that birthed our species. Life, uh, finds a way.
I've always thought that this world is the real life version of the comics trope of "monster filled world", this is a world where everything eats everyone at some point one way or another, and humans are just one of the deadliest creatures to spawn here in the last 4 billion years, the only other creatures that have come close to achieve the level this of terrain manipulation and caused so many extinctions world wide are plants and algae, and those took millions of years to do it, we took just a few thousand years
Is it possible for the caterpillar to recover from this after all the eggs hatch or do the newborn wasp feed on its host after they emerge from the egg?
Ohh I love these little guys. I only saw a single hornworm in the garden this year and it was covered with these cocoons. Such helpful little creatures in the garden. We also has some that mummified aphids, sadly nothing for the whiteflies so they became a problem.
Maybe you should give wasps a chance and thank them then! :) Most wasps are solitary and do not swarm and sting like their social cousins are known for. They just mind their business and help you grow your tomatoes! Nothing to dislike 🍅💗
When I was a little kid my family spent the summers on my aunt’s farm in southern Ontario. I was fascinated by the more interesting insects on the farm. The tomato horn worm and monarch caterpillars were my favourites, as they didn’t live 800 km North like me. Every year I brought caterpillars home, raised them and released the winged adults. I was horrified, when I was 10, that one caterpillar’s back was covered with those little white cocoons. The eggs had been laid in a very young larva. I felt so bad for my caterpillar. This video short brought all those feelings back! I’m in my later 60’s now! Still love bugs though! 🇨🇦🖖🏻🇨🇦
It would be difficult to transfer from an insect host into a mammal host quickly, so the wasps would have to undergo some changes to their methods of parasitizing to fully make that jump. If this were to actually happen, the wasps would probably make their cocoons internally, as a human/mammal host is smart enough to recognize what has happened, so the wasps would unfortunately chew their way out… Pretty dark path if you think on it
We found a hornworm caterpillar on a hanging tomato plant on my deck. This is exactly what happened to it. I researched the subject and found out not to destroy any caterpillar with wasp pupa on it as each wasp will target another caterpillar.
I've observed parasitized tobacco hornworms on tomato plants. As the wasps inside mature and eat away at them, they seem to slow down, and altogether stop moving until they wither away.
That's a Sphinx Moth caterpillar, beautiful, huge! The size of a small hummingbird. The caterpillars can devastate tomato plants but worth it. I used to grow parsley for a food source for black swallow tail butterflies.
Wasp bodyguard here to make sure we're all being respectful of our lovely pollinating, pest controlling, often solitary and unable to sting wasps 🕴️got my eyes on you 🧐 Genuinely though, thank you to those taking the time to learn about these wonderful creatures and staying open minded! 💗💗💗
he neglected to mention the part where his office is now filled with dozens of wasps.
Yeah what the heck??
Ahh A LARGE INFLUX OF BEES should help smooth this out
DR. BEES!!!!!!!
Ya what the 🦆?
That's what I was gonna say!!! Didn't they think to enclose the wasps in something? Otherwise they'd be EVERYWHERE in that room!!!😂
"Next episode, we'll figure out how to rid of dozens of wasp nests from the nooks and crannies of my lab"
forget it. they are his assistants now...
I going to guess he did put something over them.
Why would they build a nests? The caterpillars are their nests
These are solitary parasitoid wasps! They’re a type of braconid wasp, which means they cannot sting, do not form colonies or nests, and exclusively attack this one type of caterpillar. Don’t be scared of them, they’re not mean and cannot hurt you no matter how much they want to.
That's not what these wasps do. They're not yellow jackets
I'm just a layman, but wow, that catapillar looks remarkably healthy for having all those parasites.
Calm before the storm
@@narrativeless404and when they hatch, they burrow into the caterpillar u til large enough to burrow back out and cocoon up.
@@narrativeless404
If you spend any time in your garden, you'll find these caterpillars waiting in the same spot for days on end as they become more and more hollow. Parsatic wasp larvae are _far_ from being benign hitchhikers.
@@narrativeless404it's alive, but not well
The larvae first inject a chemical that will neutralise the hormone that the mother uses to convert into a moth. They keep it alive and eating until they come out of their cocoons. That's why that caterpillar is extraordinarily large.
For anyone asking: no, the caterpillar does not survive. The wasp injects its toxin into it to make it survive and protect the larvae eating it until they emerge as wasps, and afterwards the caterpillar dies. I just hope bugs cant feel pain because its awful. We get tarantula hawks(wasp) that do the same thing to tarantulas here in the summer.
no, they cant. As far as I know insects lack pain receptors.
@@murzkatzepeople said that about babies and look where we are.
@@squirrel670 i really wouldnt compare insects and babies. But i know what you mean.
@@murzkatze I'm saying if something so close to us which seems obvious now was wrong for so long, it much easier to make that mistake with a different creature.
@@squirrel670ye especially since they DO have pain receptors they’re just different than the ones we have
As a child I was lucky to have an empty lot across the street from where I lived... I use to love going out into the field and sit stills for hours just watching all the insects just existing in their own universe's.
After sitting for so long the area around me would get filled with monarch butterflies and when I would stand up and move around they would fly off. It was like a sea of butterflies around me flying off! Wish there were cell phones back then so I could have filmed it for the world to see.
That sounds amazing
same here i lived in a tropical place. tons of butterflies gather in the ground to drink some water (I guess) it was a beautiful scene.🌻🌺
Imagine how painful and itchy that would have been for the caterpillar
Probably in a weird state of agony and compulsion.
I don't think a caterpillars nervous system is anything like ours...
I don't think they have a nerve system as us
Bugs don't feel pain like humans their nervous systems are completely different than ours
@@Rat-Jesusbugs feel pain like bugs 🐛 😫
This is body horror
As someone who grows my own produce, these wasps are a Godsend!! Caterpillars of all kinds are highly destructive to produce, and when you grow organically especially, you need beneficial insects like these wasps to curb destructive pests like this caterpillar.
Or you can just... not grow organically
lol wut. caterpillars are usually considered a beneficial pest. moth and butterflies are important pollinators, unlike wasps...
@@tommyfanzfloppydiskwasps are pollinators as well, and they don't eat the plants themselves like caterpillars do
@@jakemertens8828 ? they eat the fruits all the time and , aside few specialized wasps species ,are way less efficient in pollination than other insects. i get it to have few is good as its control on other insects populations, but i'd never heard someone saying he'd rather have wasps than caterpillars.
Me, to the caterpillar, right before I set it on fire: “Sorry buddy, collateral damage.”
It’s dying from the venom injection that occurred when it was parasitized… it’s a mercy immolation.
@@themotorcyclemasswhole”mercy immolation,” that did NOT hold up in court
Eh, these wasps are like super beneficial though. Harmless/docile to humans, free pest control, and important pollinators in the ecosystem. Nothing BUT upsides to having them around.
@@MsScarletwingsit’s true. Solitary wasps are lovely to have around. Hive wasps… need their space… but are also beneficial pest control.
I give humanity the next 50 years to turn wasp silk into a luxury fabric.
Agreed
There are experiments that have made transgenic goats that produce spider silk protein in their mammary glands and working spinnerets on the teats. That silk is mostly meant for materials science and biomedical engineering research, but the process will mature with advancing genetic engineering methods
Surprised they aren’t doing it by now tbh. We’ve already got silk worm fabric and other moth/bug fabrics
@@elijahayler9385because silk worms just do it better
It can't be mass produced by big companies so it's not too profitable.
These kind of wasps made darwin agnostic
true story?
@@swank8508 yea I just checked, he saw these wasps and concluded that is either not omnipotent, not omnibenevolent, or neither
@@swank8508To be fair, it also coincided with death of his daughter Anne, which made his religous doubts stronger. But he did mention he couldn't believe benevolent God would create something as vile as parasites.
Too bad Darwin didn't take the sensible path and publish theory based on the mountains of empirical research he compiled.
Instead, he betrayed mankind. Spent unnecessary effort weaving a fantastical tale, based on emotion and in full view of the reader, discards the logic and reason he pretends his detractors disdain.
Natural law calls darwin the liar he chose to be.
Really turns the hymn "All Thing Bright and Beautiful" into a cruel irony.
Over the past 7 years, I've encouraged parasitoid wasps and other pollinating wasp species in my gardens so much that I have zero pest issues without use of any chemicals or pesticides.
My kids try to save caterpillars but no matter the species, after a couple days wasps hatch right out of the caterpillar or pupate out like this video.
"I have zero pest issues"
Yeah, EXCEPT FOR THE WASPS!!! 😫 I have a fear of wasps and bees so to me the situation has not improved haha
Wasps!!
@@kurtacus3581 the majority of wasps do not sting and are gnat sized, most of them are parasitoid wasps which do not form social nests or colonies. the few solitary parasitoid wasps that ARE capable of stinging are much less likely to do so because they dont have a nest to defend. they dont pose a threat to humans
@@kurtacus3581 skill issue
@@kurtacus3581solitary wasps aren’t dangerous. Hive wasps definitely need their space but solitary wasps, like these ones, are purely beneficial!
Instructions unclear, now horde of wasps are in my lab
This is crazy but it's nothing compared to looking under a light and seeing 40 wasp larvae wiggling inside the caterpillar. This type of wasp was inside the caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly. What I thought was a coll sighting turned into something horrific.....I did started craving pasta randomly tho..
better than spraying a spider in your house only to have a foot long worm shuck off its shell and start squirming on your floor.
Horsehairs are unnerving
@@helloyes2288DEAR GOD 😭
yeah animals that gotta insert into other ones usually got something freaky going on
@@helloyes2288I want to hear more about this Spider Worm.
These guys are an example why I don't spray pesticides in my garden. I'll get a few horn worms every year but they do minimal damage because these wasps are abundant.
Plant Alyssum with your tomatoes, it will attract them to it.
Parasitoid wasps play a huge role in ecology but they’re very understudied compared to other insects
It's really a shame, honestly; they're such interesting creatures and marvelous in their own right, but there's such a stigma against them that even though hymenopterologists in general are hard to come by, ones specializing in wasps (and further, parasitoid ones) are even more rare. I know one person trying to break into that field, but it's a slow process.
Caterpillars gotta start chargin' rent mayne 😮😆
or sue for child support
970$ a month huh
You know they ain't paying that
It can’t.
It’s dead. It will die a short amount of time after the wasps emerge, so there’s no way for the wasps to give rent to the caterpillar before it dies.
@@dukefang1001 :|
so cool. as much as it hurts me inside to see squishy fellows like that hornworm parasitized, nature is so so fascinating i love it. i love bugs. bugs need love
Man This world is savage asf but my brain also thinks it’s the most beautiful thing ever. The drive for things to evolve and survive in horrific ways but awesome all the same. it has always intrigued me
Absolutely
You like body horror?
I agree!! Its a testament to the beauty of survival, nature isnt black and white and there is something wonderful in everything ❤
Quite an intelligent take, the drive for life to survive and find all the possible means to do so is indeed as terrifying as it is uplifting. Evolution is incredible, and the cycle predation is the system that birthed our species.
Life, uh, finds a way.
I've always thought that this world is the real life version of the comics trope of "monster filled world", this is a world where everything eats everyone at some point one way or another, and humans are just one of the deadliest creatures to spawn here in the last 4 billion years, the only other creatures that have come close to achieve the level this of terrain manipulation and caused so many extinctions world wide are plants and algae, and those took millions of years to do it, we took just a few thousand years
Damn nature, you scary!
Always is
Jesus Christ, how horrifying!
Yep!
Is it possible for the caterpillar to recover from this after all the eggs hatch or do the newborn wasp feed on its host after they emerge from the egg?
I think they just buzz off but I could be wrong
No, the moth does not make it to the adult stage.
No, the Wasp Larva already fed on the thing while they were developing inside it.
If you seen the movie Alien it’s the same thing.
@@AntLab
Some viewers are left with the impression that the caterpillar survives, and that this is merely an inconvenience.
Imagine having a chestburster inside you and some giants just set up a camera and a lightbox to put you in 😭
He cut that cocoon in a perfect circle. I have a bigger brain, and I can't draw a half decent one. Nature!
Amazing how it really does look as if they've surgically cut themselves out of the cacoons.
Ohh I love these little guys. I only saw a single hornworm in the garden this year and it was covered with these cocoons. Such helpful little creatures in the garden. We also has some that mummified aphids, sadly nothing for the whiteflies so they became a problem.
💀
Get yourself some ladybug my guy
Don't like wasps but this is my favorite because I like to grow tomatoes
Maybe you should give wasps a chance and thank them then! :) Most wasps are solitary and do not swarm and sting like their social cousins are known for. They just mind their business and help you grow your tomatoes! Nothing to dislike 🍅💗
*screams in utter terror*
As a gardner, these wasps are my friends
I find these every year on my tomato plants, kind of amazing
Ita interesting how the caterpillar continues to do its thing even as this occurs.
Caterpillars need a iron dome.
Biblically accurate caterpillars
Wasps are the bad type of alien. Octopus are the good type of alien 👽
When I was a little kid my family spent the summers on my aunt’s farm in southern Ontario. I was fascinated by the more interesting insects on the farm. The tomato horn worm and monarch caterpillars were my favourites, as they didn’t live 800 km North like me. Every year I brought caterpillars home, raised them and released the winged adults. I was horrified, when I was 10, that one caterpillar’s back was covered with those little white cocoons. The eggs had been laid in a very young larva. I felt so bad for my caterpillar. This video short brought all those feelings back! I’m in my later 60’s now! Still love bugs though! 🇨🇦🖖🏻🇨🇦
Their little arms going up in the air so proud they can fly!
lets all be grateful they didnt chose our species as hosts....yet.
It would be difficult to transfer from an insect host into a mammal host quickly, so the wasps would have to undergo some changes to their methods of parasitizing to fully make that jump. If this were to actually happen, the wasps would probably make their cocoons internally, as a human/mammal host is smart enough to recognize what has happened, so the wasps would unfortunately chew their way out…
Pretty dark path if you think on it
We have enough flesh eating parasites to worry about. Just be thankful for your botflies.
You just be hashtag blessed you weren't born a bug , everything is out to get you I mean seriously
Dw we have botflies to cover us ❤
We have these down in Louisiana.
They love killing roaches.
“What is your purpose of life”
- caterpillar, eggs, die, repeat
"The coolest part..." excuse me sir you mean the most horrifyingly horrific part
Neat behind-the-scenes
We found a hornworm caterpillar on a hanging tomato plant on my deck. This is exactly what happened to it. I researched the subject and found out not to destroy any caterpillar with wasp pupa on it as each wasp will target another caterpillar.
I like how they put their arms up in flight like they're their own rollercoaster 😂
If you haven't been bitten by that caterpillar the DONT EVER GET BIT BY THAT CATERPILLAR. We used to call them pack daddles and that hurts so bad
Good feed on those tomato hornworms!
I wonder what that would look like under a brick
I love how the wasps look like they're saying "yaaaaaay!" During the slowption shots!
All my research tells me that's a tomato horn worm.
I like how the caterpillar doesn’t care that there’s wasps on his back
wasps... the O.G. Faerie Folk
Wasps spots caterpillar: *it's free real estate*
TO LAY EGGS INTO THE CATERPILLAR?!?! WHY DID WE BRUSH OVER THAT
i like how you gave a little backstory to how you received the moth.
that top wasp at the end really did the super man pose
thank you for your time.very cool.
My grandfathers garden got completely covered with those one year they really like tomatoe plants
The power of the sun on the palm of your hand lol
When the wasps fly it looks like they're saying "YIPPEE" 😭
*Caterpillar just chillin*
Wasp: “The dirty things I’m gonna do to you”
Caterpillar: 😶
I gotta show this to my hippy sister who thinks "all nature is beautiful and works in perfect harmony without human interference"
“The tobacco hornworm feeding on its favorite food… tomatoes!” 😂
Noooooooo! I love the catapillars. Why cant they all just get along???!!!😢😢😢
My bro Unleashed 1,000 wasps in his office 😂💀☠️
Yes I liked my own comment by the way frbfgfyfgfbftvfgghth👺👺👺👺👺👹👹👹👹👺👺👹💩💀💀💀💀
The little wasps are so cuteee 😭
Caterpillar converted himself into a wasp nursery. I wonder how much he is getting for his services.😅😂
I found this phenomenon in my garden. Dope!
He gives me Doctor Octopus from an alternate dimension at peace with his lady🤔 😂
That is a perfect circle cut with no knife or power tools. Just chewing out I expected a jagged edge.
Bros office is full of hornets now, have fun with that 😂
Catterpillar: Carrier of wasp brethren.
the way they raise their "arms" is so cute
The editing almost makes these hellspawn bugs seem cute
that guy kinda looks like jerry from subway lmaooo
How does it cut that line so perfect
"We have Alien at home!" The Alien at home:
So fascinating! Must have been a lot of effort to capture this that professionally... love it! 🤗🍀
I've observed parasitized tobacco hornworms on tomato plants. As the wasps inside mature and eat away at them, they seem to slow down, and altogether stop moving until they wither away.
Wasp at the end:
"Freedom"😃
I legitimately thought he was going to eat it
I wish I would have been intrigued by this kind of stuff when I was younger.
The last wasp: WEEEEEEEEEEEEE
They cut open the cocoon as if they are opening a lid, so precise!
Proof: Sci-fi horror movie plots happen every day here on earth.
I love your videos.
and the deep care you put into them...
#beautiful
People: We should learn more about animals and learn from them.
Nature:
Brought back memories from that college human cartoon
The cut it made was a perfect and precise.
That's a Sphinx Moth caterpillar, beautiful, huge! The size of a small hummingbird. The caterpillars can devastate tomato plants but worth it. I used to grow parsley for a food source for black swallow tail butterflies.
imagine a wasp hatching and then stinging the caterpillar it hatched from lol
It’s truly amazing how animals and insects how each other out.
Wasp bodyguard here to make sure we're all being respectful of our lovely pollinating, pest controlling, often solitary and unable to sting wasps 🕴️got my eyes on you 🧐 Genuinely though, thank you to those taking the time to learn about these wonderful creatures and staying open minded! 💗💗💗
Huh...
I was expectin' the caterpillar to ne nothin' but a husk.
I'll never stick a Q tip in my ear again after watching this
Good lord, being a bug is horrific
My pet Wormy the caterpillar died because of parasitic wasps, may his soul rest in peace 😢
Noah traded unicorns for this.
I believe the tobacco horn worm has a reddish spike where a tomato horn worm had a blue spike, however both love tomato plants...
This is absolutely amazing footage!
Happen to me once in my garden was fascinating and horrifying at the same time
Ah, yes, the very insect that made charles darwin doubt the existence of a loving god.