Extremely interesting. Sort of blows past thoughts out of the water.

Think I'll pass on the job analyzing caterpillar frass!

That is interesting! Hmmmmm ..... so there is little toxin in their frass, therefore it must be retained in their bodies to make them taste horrible to predators. Though .... wasps don't seem to mind eating monarch caterpillars.

I was thinking the same thing--how the predators lap up the baby Monarch cats. But the butterflies are supposed to taste bad?
well, I think there's a lot the researchers haven't discovered yet about this topic!

The toxins in butterflies mainly deter bird predators. Other insects and spiders don't seem to be affected. I'm not sure about lizards, frogs, etc. That's still quite a deterrent, though. I was reading a few weeks ago about how many caterpillars the average bird needed to feed their young through the spring and it was in the thousands! So if they can eliminate what seems like a major predator, that still increases survival by quite a bit.

I rarely see a caterpillar make it to chrysalis stage because of the wasps. I have them terrible in my yard! What is the predator for wasps? I need whatever it is!

Wasp spray is one of the few insecticides I use. Ever since I got stung by a paper wasp, I don't play around anymore. I had to use it yesterday when I found a nest on one of my bromeliads.

Yes, I do use wasps spray when I find a nest, but I have a harder time finding the nest lately since the backyard now looks like a jungle. I have so many wasps that I get stung regularly. They are everywhere in my yard. I wished they would eat aphids and other bugs, not my caterpillars. But I need to reduce the population down to a minimum unlike how it is currently. Even the hummers have to fend for themselves against the wasps. It really makes me mad that I have so many! Where is nature's balance? This increased wasps population has been going on in my backyard for several years now .....

Becky, I found this link about wasp predators:
https://www.newscientist.com/b...

There are birds that eat wasps; robberflies will kill wasps. I watched one of my hens snatch wasps out of the air and eat them, although just one, she might be a little crazy.

Little story - dh has a shop that he hasn't yet turned into his workshop. Every winter, the mice move in and so do the wasps. Interestingly, when dh makes a periodic inspection, he will find thousands of wasp wings lying on the floor. We think the mice must eat the wasps and leave the wings. Can't think of another explanation.

Edit to remove picture - wrong picture and wrong thread.

I have Bald-faced wasps and they eat the Yellow Jackets and the birds do a great job eating wasps in my yard, especially the fledglings, they run around the yard after them.

Becky, have you tried putting up false hives around your yard?

mellielong said: flies in the face of a long-held theory that specialist insects are better adapted to use toxic plant chemicals than non-specialists.

OK - I retracted my rant.
I thought we were talking about lab toxins, not natural ones.....

My bad.

Catmint20906 said: I think there's a lot the researchers haven't discovered yet about this topic!

And so many more.
"Modern Science" is still new, in the larger scheme of things.

Robin - Thanks for that link! I had to laugh at some of the comments that were posted on that link!

Much ado about nothing. Short version - don't touch something if you don't know if it's safe or not. (Everything I needed to know in life I learned in kindergarten.)

http://www.foxnews.com/science...

mellielong said: (Everything I needed to know in life I learned in kindergarten.)

I rememberr that book coming out AND I agree with it!

Well, I saw the adult male hummer at the same feeder again, so thought I would snap some more photos of it since it was facing the opposite direction. (Thinking I could get a photo of the entire band numbers.)

Loaded the photos onto my computer and started looking at them and it is a different adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird!!! This one is not banded. Surprise, surprise!!! COOL!!!



I always suspect I have more than what I am seeing, but I was able to confirm it today!

Very cool!