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Sequestered Caterpillar Chemical Defenses: From “Disgusting Morsels” to Model Systems

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Caterpillars in the Middle

Part of the book series: Fascinating Life Sciences ((FLS))

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Abstract

Caterpillars that sequester chemical defenses from their host plants are truly caught in the middle between their host plants and their enemies. On the one hand, they not only need to cope with the compounds in the plants on which they feed, they also need to have the physiology to be able to store those compounds. On the other hand, they need to deploy these defenses in the most effective way possible and escape or survive attack by their own natural enemies. This chapter first summarizes the early (mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century) investigations into unpalatability of caterpillars and the historical importance of these discoveries for the fields of ecology, evolution, and behavior and the birth of the field of chemical ecology. It then provides an introduction to caterpillar sequestration and unpalatability and introduces iridoid glycosides as a model system for investigating sequestering caterpillars. Different caterpillar species that sequester defense compounds from their host plants may vary in their ability to retain these compounds. Examples of such variation are explored. The host plant species on which a caterpillar feeds may affect the amounts and kinds of compounds sequestered, with consequences for the efficacy of these defenses against enemies; examples of these interactions are described. The effects of humans on the planet are many, varied, and profound; the consequences of such anthropogenic influences on the environment and their impact on sequestering caterpillars are discussed, including introduced plants, nitrogen and water availability, elevated carbon dioxide, and use of pesticides and herbicides. The chapter concludes with a section on possible future directions in research on sequestering caterpillars.

figure a

Euphydryias phaeton larva (Nymphalidae) on white turtlehead, Chelone glabra (Plantaginaceae). (Photo: M. Deane Bowers)

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the wonderful students, post-docs and colleagues who, over many years, have contributed to my thoughts about the behavior, ecology, and evolution of unpalatable caterpillars. I appreciate the comments from Adrian Carper, the Bowers-Resasco lab group, and three anonymous reviewers. I thank Greg Hill for German translation, Bob Marquis for the citizen science observation and Katherine Hernandez, Mary Jamieson, Nadya Muchoney, and Mike Singer for use of their photographs. I especially thank Suzanne Koptur and Bob Marquis for the invitation to contribute to this volume. In this chapter, much of the research from my laboratory was funded by the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture. While writing this chapter, research was funded by NSF DEB-1929522.

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  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    M. Deane Bowers

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  1. M. Deane Bowers
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Correspondence to M. Deane Bowers .

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  1. Department of Biology, Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, University of Missouri–St. Louis, St Louis, MO, USA

    Robert J. Marquis

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, International Center for Tropical Botany, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Suzanne Koptur

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To Theodore Sargent and Lincoln Brower, two talented biologists who shared with all of us their vast knowledge of both larval and adult Lepidoptera. They are missed.

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Bowers, M.D. (2022). Sequestered Caterpillar Chemical Defenses: From “Disgusting Morsels” to Model Systems. In: Marquis, R.J., Koptur, S. (eds) Caterpillars in the Middle. Fascinating Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86688-4_6

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