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Not all species of caterpillars are equipped with potent venoms, but some of them are. We might be able to develop new medications with their assistance.
Caterpillars are probably not the first thing that springs to mind when you think of creatures that are poisonous. It is, of course, snakes. There are also spiders and scorpions. What about caterpillars?
In a word, true. It turns out that the planet is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of different species of poisonous caterpillars, and at least a few of them deliver a punch that is lethal enough to kill or seriously harm a person. Simply because of this, scientists have a motive to investigate them. However, the poisonous secretions that caterpillars produce also include a potential treasure trove of chemicals that have use in the medical field.
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“Are we going to reach a point where we will be able to extract beneficial components from their venom? This is without a doubt the case, according to Andrew Walker, an evolutionary biologist and biochemist working at the University of Queensland in Australia. “But there’s a lot of foundational work to do first.”
The larval stages of the class of insects known as Lepidoptera, which includes both butterflies and moths, are known as caterpillars. It is simply one of several animal groupings that have individuals that are poisonous yet are not widely known. (Venoms are toxins that are purposefully injected into another animal, whereas poisons are toxins that are stored in the body of an organism, ready to make a prospective predator sick.) It is estimated by biologists that venoms have undergone at least one hundred different evolutionary changes across the animal kingdom.
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Venoms are notoriously complicated, with some of them comprising more than one hundred distinct chemicals. In addition to this, they are very different. According to Mandë Holford, a venom specialist operating at Hunter College and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, “No two species possess the same arsenal of venom.” “That’s why it’s important to study as many species as we can find.”
In point of fact, the study of venoms might be a more effective method for discovering novel therapeutic candidates than beginning from scratch. This is due to the fact that venoms include compounds that have been fine-tuned over the course of time to target particular biological processes in the victim. “They’ve evolved over millions of years, they’ve been tested in nature, and we know they work,” according to Holford. “When we try to devise them ourselves in the lab, the success rate is a lot less.”
On the other hand, the majority of families of poisonous creatures are not even on the radar of biologists. “We have a huge wealth of knowledge about snake venoms, scorpion venoms, and spider venoms,” says Nicholas Casewell, a venom biologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom. “We have a lot of information about all of these subjects.” “But there are lots of groups of venomous animals out there that are largely unstudied.”
The author of an article regarding dangerous Lepidoptera that was published in the 2025 Annual Review of Entomology, Walker, believes that caterpillars, in particular, should receive more study. It is estimated by Walker that there are a large number of venomous caterpillar species across the lepidopteran evolutionary tree, despite the fact that only around 2% of caterpillar species are poisonous. The presence of this pattern indicates that venom most likely developed independently on many occasions within the group, which might have resulted in an unusually wide variety of compounds.
Those few deadly caterpillars are sufficient to make venomous caterpillars a substantial public health hazard, at least in certain regions of the world.
The lethal caterpillars, which belong to the genus Lonomia, which is found in South America, possess a venom that is similar to that of a snake and disrupts the process of blood coagulation. The venoms of some animals are responsible for miscarriages in horses, while others are responsible for persistent and permanent inflammatory disorders.
The presence of even a small number of poisonous caterpillars is sufficient to render them a substantial threat to public health in at least certain regions of the world, according to Walker. “They’re not killing many people regularly like scorpions and snakes do, but compared to spiders there’s not much difference in the impact of the health hazard.” Because of this worry, a number of researchers have begun looking into the biological consequences of the potentially fatal Lonomia venom and have also begun working on developing antivenom as a means of treating those who are afflicted by it.
According to Walker, although some other caterpillar venoms have been examined at least a little bit, the most of them have not been studied at all, and it is possible that medicine is missing out on this opportunity. For instance, he states that the majority of lepidopteran venoms provoke pain, which can sometimes be so severe that it necessitates the use of opioid medicines. Not only does this not come as a surprise, given that pain is an effective means of warding off possible predators, but it also enables researchers to utilize the venom as a probe to uncover pain pathways within the body as well as pain receptors in laboratory animals and maybe even in people. This, in turn, may result in the development of novel medications.
The research on caterpillar venoms is currently insufficient, which is why there have been no new pharmaceuticals developed as of yet. However, the venoms of other creatures have resulted in the development of several significant treatments. For example, there are treatments that are used to treat high blood pressure and blood coagulation that were inspired by snake venom. Additionally, a precursor to the recently released blockbuster drug semaglutide, which is better known by brand names such as Ozempic and Wegovy, was derived from a chemical that was retrieved from a poisonous lizard known as the Gila monster.
As a result of developments in molecular biology and bioinformatics, it is becoming increasingly simple to analyze the venoms of all creatures, including caterpillars. According to Casewell, this should result in significant technological advancements in the near future. “It’s like a treasure trove that’s still sitting out there for us to understand.”
Caterpillar venoms have the potential to aid in the development of life-saving medications. Through studying these venoms, scientists can potentially uncover new therapeutic compounds that could be used to treat a variety of medical conditions. While much work still needs to be done in this field, the potential benefits of harnessing the power of poisonous caterpillars for medicinal purposes are vast. It is clear that these small, seemingly insignificant creatures could hold the key to unlocking groundbreaking treatments that could save countless lives. As research continues in this area, we may see a new era in medicine emerge, thanks to the humble caterpillar.
