想吃毛毛虫？没那么容易

Soft, squishy caterpillars might seem like easy prey to a hungry predator, but one species doesn’t give up without a fight.

软软的，黏黏的毛毛虫对于饥饿的捕食者来说似乎是唾手可得的猎物，但其中有一个品种不会乖乖束手就擒。

Fully developed caterpillars of the hornworm moth (Langia zenzeroides) use a mix of squeaks, strikes, and vomit to defend themselves from predators, researchers report this month in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.

发育完全的天蛾的幼虫会采取一系列地如发出吱吱声，击打或者呕吐来面对捕食者保卫自己，研究者们最近在这个月林奈学会的生物杂志上发表了这项发现。

Hornworm moth larvae respond aggressively when pecked by vertebrate predators such as birds, but it wasn’t clear whether they reacted toward invertebrate predators in a similar fashion—and whether invertebrates, too, could have played a role in the evolution of caterpillar defenses.

天蛾的幼虫会对脊椎动物类的捕食者比如鸟类的啄击作出攻击性的反应，但目前还不清楚它们是否会对无脊椎动物类的捕食者进行类似的反应—以及是否无脊椎动物也在幼虫防御的进化过程中发挥了作用。

So, scientists tested how hornworm moth larvae fared in the presence of caterpillar-hunting insects.

于是，科学家们测试了天蛾的幼虫会对那些以毛毛虫为食的昆虫面前如何反应。

Adult ground beetles of the genus Calosoma fit the bill perfectly as they eat a variety of caterpillar species in the wild and take down prey bigger than themselves.

卡洛玛属的成年步甲完美地满足了要求，因为它们在野外会捕食多种毛毛虫还能干掉比自己更大的猎物。

But when the beetle approached a hornworm caterpillar, it got attacked and shoved away.

但当这种步甲靠近天蛾的毛毛虫时，它遭到了攻击被并甩开了。

And when the beetle tried to bite, the caterpillar launched additional defenses: It squeaked, which is known to startle predators, and threw up on its attacker, possibly as a chemical defense.

后来当步甲试图咬它的时候，毛毛虫发动了另外的防御：它发出吱吱声，这可以惊吓捕食者，然后呕吐在进攻者身上，这很可能是化学防御。

Most dramatically, two caterpillars grabbed the beetle in their jaws and flung it through the air.

最令人震撼的是，有两只毛毛虫用它们的颚抓住了甲虫，然后把它从空中抛了出去。

One of these even managed to bite off part of the beetle’s right hindleg.

其中一只甚至成功地咬掉了甲虫右侧的一只后腿。

All of these strategies paid off: None of the 25 beetles tested was successful in killing a single caterpillar, the team found.

所有这些防御策略都是有用的：研究团队发现，被测试的25只步甲无一能成功地杀死一只毛毛虫。

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