Squash bugs aren’t exactly helicopter parents. Young bugs have to find one bacterium on their own, or die trying.
If the nymphs don’t find the microbe, they die, says evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist Scott Villa of Davidson College in North Carolina. And is not plentiful in the environment. So having to fend for themselves is a risky strategy, Villa says. “If it’s so important, why in the heck did they not just put them on a platter for their kids?”
Many other insects do just that. Females defecate on their eggs, leaving behind essential bacteria that their young can slurp up. But it was unclear how squash bug nymphs acquired. Figuring it out could lead to ways to interrupt the bacterial supply chain to control the pest’s population, Villa says.
The serendipitous discovery came when Villa and colleagues caught an adult squash bug pooping on camera while working on a different study. Nymphs flocked to the feces and started feeding. When the team then gave nymphs a choice of a mouthful of saline or poop spiked with the bacteria, the bugs were intensely attracted to the feces. Of 229 recorded events, all but three involved bacteria-containing poop.What’s more, the attraction may be species-specific.
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