Posted here, because this is not exactly a world-changing, cutting edge piece of research.
I am sitting outside, enjoying a local lager, and I spotted a ladybird/ladybug fly a descending spiral into my glass.
I rescued it immediately and it is now wandering around my table with wings extended, presumably to dry them.
I am far from an entemologist, but I am aware of the spiracles used to breathe. Being so small, would my +/- 5% ABV beer make this insect drunk via “inhalation”? Does alcohol even affect insects?
Many years ago I found a fruit fly swimming around in the glass of wine I was drinking. I scooped it out with a spoon, where it staggered around for several minutes, until it eventually recovered enough to fly away. To me it totally looked like that fly was drunk.
In the fall, Vanessid butterflies (e.g., the Red Admiral, the Eastern Comma) go on fruit that has fallen off trees and is fermenting, and drink the juices. They are basically “drunk” - they are pacified by the alcohol and it is easier to catch them. Here is a nice little article about it.
I just forwarded this question to a friend of mine with a Doctorate in Entomology. We’ll see what she says.
ETA: According to her, entirely possible. But like with humans, toxic in high doses. So a Bud Light would get them buzzed, but your Belgian Tripel would probably kill them. Although she has some issues with how insects would even metabolize alcohol.
Wow, @silenus please thank your friend for helping us fight ignorance, and for answering so promptly you even made it in the edit window.
My WAG (since we ain’t in F.Q.) was gonna be that simply being dunked - and especially into a liquid that’s a bit more “sticky” or viscous than water - would be enough of a problem, that any alcohol metabolism would be secondary, as far as clogging their breathing tubes, gumming up their wings, etc.
I love drinking red wine, and fruit flies love red wine, so sometimes when I pick out a fruit fly from my glass, it happily (maybe happier than before) flies on like nothing happened.
It’s very common to find wasps that have been feeding on rotting/fermenting apples behaving in a way that appears like they are intoxicated (trouble flying/taking off, randomly attacking things), but this might just be because it’s the end of the season for worker wasps in annual nests
