Recent news is worrying. Caterpillars of the wax moth Galleria mellonella digest artificial plastics (Bombelli et al 2017) and it has been suggested that they might be produced en masse to help consume the vast amounts of waste plastic that have accumulated worldwide. One can imagine that releasing large numbers of the caterpillars could pose a serious problem for honeybee colonies.
I think it's just the enzyme that will be sprayed on the plastics, not the caterpillars themselves :)
Hello Anthony:
Do you mean releaising large numbers of the wax moth caterpillars to eat plastics ? I think you did not understand the significant finding of Bombelli et al. 2017. Is the Polyethylene polymer that is chemically degraded by contact with the worm homogenate. The fast rate of biodegradation reported in the paper of Bombelli et al. 2017 have potential for significant biotechnological applications. This means that the chemical components of the wax moth caterpillars can be used to decompose artifical plastics as Andrew pointed out, not the caterpillar on its own, so this biotechnological application does not pose risk to bee hives.
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(17)30231-2.pdf
Regards,
Luis Miguel
Sorry Andrew, but I provide more information for the answer and the source link so readers can understand what the subject is about. This makes the difference between a simple answer and a well elaborated answer to the precise question formulated by Anthony: Will recent interest in wax moth caterpillars pose a threat to honeybee colonies ?
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