Caterpillars Sense Hungry Wasps’ Electrical Field

image via New Scientist

September 16, 2024, 10:45 AM

• •Some animals have evolved an ability to detect the invisible electrical fields that fill the world around us.
• •Scientists have shown that caterpillars can sense the electrostatic fields of approaching wasps—the first such predator-prey interaction recorded on land.
• •The researchers determined the caterpillars detect these fields with bristly fibers covering their bodies, which vibrated from the electrical stimulus.

Some animals can detect the invisible electrical fields that fill the world around us. This seemingly alien power is well known in aquatic animals as electroreception, but it is far less frequently observed terrestrially. Now researchers have shown that caterpillars can sense the electrostatic fields of approaching wasps—the first such predator-prey interaction recorded on land.

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