Making More Moths

6 September

Despite first appearances with the yellow and black striped abdomen, these two insects busily occupied in creating the next generation of their species, are not wasps of any variety, although they mimic them, presumably for protective reasons. In fact these are moths - note the feathered antennae.

Specifically the Raspberry Crown Borer moth (Pennisetia marginatum) - in some places known as the Blackberry Clearwing Moth. Native to the eastern side of the continent.

The larvae feed on various cane fruit species, favoring particularly raspberries and blackberries. They bore into the rootstock and root crowns of their host plant.

The life cycle extends over two years. Adults fly from late July to October. Eggs are laid on the underside or edges of leaves, are brownish orange in color as they mature, and hatch in 30 to 60 days. Larvae then crawl to the base of the fruit cane and form overwintering cells. In spring, the larvae feed for a few weeks then bore into the cane, where their feeding causes galls or swelling at or below the soil surface. Larvae overwinter the second year in the canes. The fully-grown larvae continue to feed within the cane until June or July, and then pupate. The adults emerge from exit holes in the canes beginning in July. Generations overlap, and small and large larvae can be found in canes in April and May.

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How did this impossible thing come about?

Iberian harvester ants (Messor ibericus) break a fundamental rule in biology: their queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species. These queen ants are sexual parasites that rely on sperm from males of another ant species, Messor structor, to breed hybrid worker ants.

But here's where it gets wild: in the absence of nearby M. structor colonies, M. ibericus queens can clone male M. structor ants by laying eggs that contain only M. structor DNA in their nuclei. They essentially create their own supply of males to mate with, producing the hybrid workers they need to maintain their colonies.

Evolutionary biologist Jonathan Romiguier describes this as "an absolutely fantastic, bizarre story of a system that allows things to happen that seem almost unimaginable". The queens have domesticated another species and its genome, solving a reproductive puzzle that would stump most creatures. Published in Nature on September 3

Taken from the Daybreak Notes & Beans Substack