Calosoma sycophanta, or "forest caterpillar hunters" as they are colloquially known, recently started a long journey thousands of kilometers away from their home. This “good” beetle, whose favorite dish is a type of moth called pine processionary, is extremely helpful against the notorious species damaging coniferous forests. Belgium, irked by an invasion of the moths, imported 100 caterpillar hunters from Turkey where it is widely used, BBC Turkish reported on Monday.
Called the “Terminator bug” in Turkey after the famous film franchise’s main character reprogrammed to save humanity, caterpillar hunters have gone extinct in Belgium, according to the news reports. In Turkey, they are incubated in labs and are already being exported to a number of countries.
Pine processionaries have little chance of survival once confronted by the beetles, which will be employed by the cities of Antwerp and Limburg. They are set to be released into nature later this month to feed on the larvae of the moths, which also cause skin problems for humans due to the irritating hairs of their caterpillars.
Ann Milbau, coordinator for the pilot project tapping the “Terminator bugs,” told BBC that they were not a threat to other animal species and did not harm nature, focusing solely on attacking moths once released near the breeding grounds of pine processionaries.
Turkey itself uses the caterpillar hunters to protect its red pine forests. Collected from nature by forestry services, they are taken to labs with special incubation conditions (including high humidity and a stable temperature) to speed up the process. In 14 days, “mother” caterpillar hunters give birth to larvae, usually during the incubation season between March and May. While they are still larvae, the beetles are released into forests with a high concentration of pine processionaries. It takes another nine months for them to mature in nature but once they start feeding on moths, they can devour up to three pine processionaries in a day and mutilate another 12 every day, according to experts. In the Çukurova region alone in southern Turkey, where two labs help the incubation of caterpillar hunters, they have protected about 13,000 hectares of forests from the moths.
