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Updated: Jul 1, 2025
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Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects
Published on: April 21, 2018
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Exotic predators can sequester and use novel toxins from exotic non-coevolved prey
Ángel Plata1, Tobias Züst2, Almudena Bermejo3
1Centro de Protección Vegetal y Biotecnología, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias, Valencia, Spain.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|March 12, 2024
Summary
Invasive cochineal bugs provide novel toxins to predators. The Australian lady beetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, sequesters and uses carminic acid for defense against ants.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Chemical Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- Predators can sequester defensive chemicals from prey for their own protection.
- Invasive species create novel predator-prey interactions, potentially leading to new chemical defense strategies.
- Coevolved predators may exploit novel toxins from invasive prey if they possess pre-adaptations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if non-coevolved predators can sequester and utilize toxins from invasive prey.
- To test the sequestration and defensive use of carminic acid by a Mediterranean coccinellid predator feeding on invasive cochineal bugs.
- To assess the deterrent effect of sequestered carminic acid against antagonistic ants.
Main Methods:
- Studied the Australian coccinellid Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, a predator of invasive cochineal bugs (Dactylopius spp.).
- Determined if C. montrouzieri tolerated, sequestered, and released carminic acid via reflex bleeding.
- Quantified the deterrent effect of carminic acid against ants.
Main Results:
- Cryptolaemus montrouzieri sequestered carminic acid from invasive cochineal bugs, a toxin not found in its native prey.
- The predator released carminic acid through reflex bleeding when attacked.
- Carminic acid concentrations released were deterrent to antagonistic ants.
Conclusions:
- Non-coevolved predators can successfully sequester and utilize novel toxins from invasive prey.
- This highlights the unexpected ecological consequences of species invasions and novel interactions.
- Predators can evolve to use new chemical defenses from exotic food sources.
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