Insects Invented Insecticides!

Taken from Densey Clyne's natural perspective in Burke's Backyard 2001
'We're a clever lot, we humans....our inventions have grown in complexity from stone-age tools to today's high-tech computer hardware. But many of the things we think we invented, the insects thought of first....These are just a few inventions.
Papermaking - A small rather aggressive wasp called Polistes is common, though not often welcome, around our gardens. She not only finds nutrients, but uses the simplest of materials and techniques to make a set of paper cells. Fragments of wood scraped off a dead stick are mixed with saliva in her mouth, then the resulting chewed pulp is applied to form a nest that is firm but flexible, shaped rather like an inverted wineglass. That is papermakeing in its simplest form, and not so different from what happens in our industrial paper mills!
Believe it or not insects invented insecticides!
When disturbed the caterpillar of our familiar orchard butterfly and its relatives evert an organ from their heads that diffuses a chemical repellent. It's uses against the tiny parasitic wasps and flies that attack them. Soldiers of the termite called Nasutitermes ("nosy termite') reper attacking ants positively, spraying a noxious chemical in their direction from the hollow, pointed 'nose' that gives them their name. Another sharp shooter against all manner of enemies is the bombardier beetle that accurately fires a visible cloud of poisonous vapour from its anus. You can hear the 'pop'!'

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