# The Ant and the Butterfly: An interesting Biology Blurb
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 5, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621 "2009-02-05T20:55:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621/1 "2009-02-05T20:55:48Z")
I just came across this interesting AP Article and thought I’d share.
[Ants Tricked in Raising Butterflies](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090205/ap_on_sc/sci_butterfly_parasite_1). Man, I love Biology!
Gives a whole new twist to the old Ugly Duckling stories.
What I found especially fascinating was the fact that the Caterpillars learned to adapt to give off the same sounds as the Queen Ants and thus were able to solicit a wide variety of special treatments from the Nurse ants. That’s pretty impressive!
---
### Author:  [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621/2 "2009-02-05T21:30:56Z")
That is extremely cool.
It would help to underscore the great over-arching coolness of such things, though, if reporters would learn the proper application of terms like “learn.”
---
### Author:  [@AllWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllWalker)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621/3 "2009-02-05T23:04:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> But in an experiment, a butterfly pupa pretending to be an ant queen was placed in a chamber with worker ants and four real ant queens. The ant queens began to attack and bite the caterpillar, but the workers intervened, biting and stinging their own queens, which they then pulled to a far corner of the chamber while other workers attended the pupa.
Now this is just damn cool.
---
### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621/4 "2009-02-06T02:23:16Z")
What’s the rest of the story? That pupa still has to metamorphose…how does it get out of the ant chamber so the butterfly can pop out and fly away?
---
### Author:  [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621/5 "2009-02-06T04:15:45Z")
This is purty cool…I’ve always thought that if there were a Deity in charge, they really outdid the creativity( and sheer ruthlessness) with insects.
From [this site](http://www.butterflyzone.org/butterfly-articles/butterflies-named-after-birds.shtml), the butterfly has a nice tradition in being named after the Common/European Cuckoo bird, which lays its eggs in other bird’s nest:
> [@](#):
>
> Cuckoo Butterfly: The cuckoo butterfly (Maculina rebeli) is found in alpine meadows of Europe. It lays its white eggs on cross leaved gentian plants. Eggs hatch into larvae which feed on flowers to start with. Later, the caterpillar releases a scent and attracts a red ant (Myrmica schencki). The ant takes the caterpillar into the ant nest, where it lives like a cuckoo being fed by nurse ants. The caterpillar now releases chemicals specific to ant nest (behavioral mimicry) and draws greater attention from the ant colony. The cuckoo caterpillar pupates and metamorphoses into adult, which crawls out of the ant nest and flies away.
Yeah, how the hell does it get out of a nest of a bajillion ants? Does it wait until the lights are turned out and make a run for it? Is the ruse all so lovely that it gets carried out on a gilded throne, kisses thrown all around the ant mound?
---
### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621/6 "2009-02-06T05:05:33Z")
And while it is in the nest, what does the caterpillar eat? Each species of caterpillar needs its own specific food, not normally found in ant nests. And how do they make sounds?
---
### Author:  [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621/7 "2009-02-06T05:12:58Z")
Well, ants forage for food, one would suppose that this species of caterpillar has adapted to eating whatever the ant larvae normally eat. So whatever the ants are feeding them, that’s what these guys eat. And the butterfly does seem to lay the eggs on specific types of plants, so the larvae are always going to eat that one, but the caterpillar perhaps is more adaptable?
As for sounds… :shrug: same way other insects make sounds i suppose? No clue on that one.
---
### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ant-and-the-butterfly-an-interesting-biology-blurb/484621/8 "2009-02-06T05:31:34Z")
Really tiny guitars.