"These are the Most POISONOUS Insects in the US "

This video is sponsored by Imprint. Water your mind with daily learning habits. Imagine that you're an insect. From your point of view, the world is massive and incredibly terrifying. Around every corner, something is waiting to eat you in the most gruesome way. If you're going to survive, you need cunning defenses and quick. Across the world, insects just like you have developed some of the most clever survival strategies in the animal kingdom. From the hardest body armor to unparalleled camouflage to some of the world's most toxic venoms, the evolutionary arms race of survival on this planet has pushed insects to the extreme. But you have yet another trick up your sleeve. Like many other insects, instead of powerful venom or camouflage, you've delved into a different strategy altogether, poison. And you're not alone. Tons of different insects have become poisonous, leading to a mix of bizarre and unique lifestyles that have rippled across the insect clade. I'm Spencer Hoffman, and today we're going to be exploring the bizarre chemical world of insect poison and getting up close and personal with some of the most poisonous insects in the United States. And it all starts in a forest in northern Texas. Look at that. That is a firefly. One of our few bioluminescent animals here in the US and part of the family Lampyridae, a very special group of beetles. They're soft-shelled. I gotta be very careful, but whenever I pick him up, you'll see he blinks quite a bit. And that's likely a threat display. We know to some degree they actually use these signals to communicate, mostly to signal for females. The adult firefly's only purpose is mating, and it's not known in those cases whether they even eat as adults. What's insane about this actual light here is it's a chemical reaction that they can actually turn on and off. And they get that by eating lots and lots of poisonous things as larvae. And it's actually thought that their larvae are one of the only native creatures that can eat hammerhead worms. This chemical is called luciferin, and while it's mainly used to communicate with other fireflies using those flashing signals, it's actually poisonous. Now, we're not talking you eat it and you die, but it's going to taste really bad. And for a small lizard or bird, it could make you very sick. These fireflies advertise that they taste terrible using their bright colors, and animals that have eaten them once will stay away. But what I'd like to touch on more is actually just how metal their larvae are. Also known as glowworms, many of their larvae can glow in the dark as well, and they have that same exact luciferin chemical that is poisonous. But the larvae of fireflies are both poisonous and venomous. They're patrolling the ground using their strange little antennae to search for soft-bodied invertebrates. Worms, slugs, and flatworms. Like I said, they're thought to be the only native species that might be able to eat the invasive hammerhead worms. And while soft-bodied prey is not usually too challenging to eat, firefly larvae are kind of squishy themselves. What they lack in strength they make up for with toxic paralyzing bites. Researchers have observed that firefly larvae will use a series of toxic bites to paralyze prey items so they can eat them undisturbed. And just like the adults, many of these firefly larvae have incredible striking patterns and look like nothing else on the planet. Some of the weirdest insects that I think I've ever seen. But while fireflies are quite a poisonous beetle, they're not the only beetle that use toxins as defense. In fact, among poisonous beetles, fireflies aren't even the most toxic. I have been looking for one of these beetles for a very, very long time because this might be the most dangerous beetle on the planet. This is a blister beetle. And what if I told you that this creature might have the most toxic blood in the world? Notice I don't have him on my hands right now because since I just freshly caught this insect, he's stressed. And if I got him in my hands, I might be in trouble. These blister beetles are poisonous. Really, really incredibly poisonous. But they're not poisonous in a way that you even have to necessarily eat them. They are so poisonous that even by touching them, you can have some pretty adverse effects. And the reason being is they get their name from a very, very particular toxin they create. It's called catheridin. And how it works is it's a severe irritant. The reason they're called blister beetles, if you get that chemical on your skin, it causes these huge, really painful blisters. And the way they actually secrete it is through their blood. That's right. This insect has poisonous blood. You're probably asking, Spencer, like, okay, so you can't eat it, right? Surely touching it isn't a problem. If they're calmed down, it's fine. When they're stressed, they do what's called reflexive bleeding. They actually can cause themselves to bleed. And if that blood gets on your skin, oh boy, you are in for a world of hurt. I don't actually get to see blister beetles all that often. They're really not that common. And they seem to only be really active in the spring. This is the only time of year that I find them. And it's always crossing this road right in front of my house here. This particular one is actually, I only recognize it as a blister beetle because of those antennae there. A lot of blister beetles have those weird knobbly antennae, but they do have that kind of weird bulbous body and that kind of odd shaped head. But the biggest thing is a lot of them are very, very shiny. They want it to be known that they are poisonous. And you can even see with this one, blood red on that jet black. And he is quite iridescent in the sunlight here. This is a beetle that advertises, hey, don't mess with me because you're not going to have a good time. If I were to like pick him up or something, I'd have blisters all over my fingers because he would reflexively bleed to defend himself. And I'd be in a lot of pain. These guys are actually significant agricultural pests in places that are trying to raise livestock because they're herbivores. That aposematic warning coloration is not because they're venomous. They're not predators. They're not stinging. They're not biting. They're not subduing prey. They're eating alfalfa hay. They're eating grass. They're eating the things that cows and horses are eating. And what ends up happening is cows and horses accidentally eat these guys because they're just living in the vegetation that they're eating. That food for these animals is the habitat for this beetle. And that's where they become a problem. Because, well, for you or me, we'd be very sick. We'd be in a lot of pain if we ate or got too much of that catheridin on our hands. It's lethal for a lot of livestock. And in certain parts of the world, this can be an extremely, extremely dangerous beetle for a lot of animals that people need to raise for their livelihood. Beetles contain some of the most powerful poisons in the insect world, but are far from the only insects to use them. There are many different types of insects that have developed offensive poisons over their millennia on our planet. But the group I bet would surprise you the most are the butterflies. That's right. I bet you had no idea that butterflies could be poisonous. But the monarch butterfly is one of the most iconic and most toxic Lepidopterans in the U.S. That beautiful tiger stripe pattern isn't just to look cool for us. It's a warning to potential predators that they taste terrible and will make for a very, very sickening snack. It's actually in the name of the butterflies in their genus. They're called the tiger milkweed butterflies. And all of them are toxic to some degree. As larvae, they spend their entire time munching on milkweed, which is a super, super poisonous plant. Not only is this a really useful adaptation if you can eat a plant that not many other things can eat, but they're actually able to sequester the toxins, make the toxins their own so that they taste terrible to predators. And monarchs aren't the only butterfly that can do this. Butterflies like the pipevine swallowtail also sequester different acids and things from the plants that they eat to become toxic as adults. Butterflies do look super, super cool, but a lot of their colors are actually communication. And in the case of the monarch, it is a brilliant case of aposematic coloration to tell birds, hey, leave me alone. The sad thing about monarchs is they're one of the insects I grew up seeing tons of as a kid, and now they're really hard to find. And a lot of that has to do with habitat destruction. Those milkweed plants that actually give them their toxins are also the habitat that their larvae need to survive. They need stable populations and pockets of milkweed to be able to continue to exist. And just like the monarch is disappearing, so is milkweed, because oftentimes it's just more profitable for us to bulldoze habitat where it grows than actually preserve it for the wildlife that lives there. And as a result, one of the most iconic and poisonous insects in the U.S. has become rarer and rarer. The nice thing about monarchs though is that they are literally not dangerous to us. As long as we keep our distance and don't try to eat them, there's no reason to fear their poison. So yes, the monarch butterflies in your backyard are poisonous, but they're not dangerous to you. Nature is full of surprises, just like these butterfly toxins. And most of us go our entire lives without ever knowing about them. Here on this channel, I want to inspire your curiosity as we go about discovering the secrets of the world around us, which is why I'm so excited that my friends at Imprint have sponsored this video. Just like how nature is full of secrets, so are our minds. Imprint's team have delved into the hidden science of how we learn to create courses, lessons, and activities that not only reveal the secrets of science and philosophy, but do so in a way that's fun and memorable. It takes more than just scientific knowledge to run this YouTube channel. I have to keep myself up to date on storytelling, psychology, and data analysis to make sure that I can make the best videos possible for you to enjoy. Imprint makes all this possible while I'm just scrolling on my phone in my downtime. It's a great way to be productive by stacking five-minute moments in bite-sized bits of learning. Babe, it's time to go. Hold on. Are you on your phone again? Yeah, hold on, let me just finish the lesson. If you're like me, your mind is buzzing with curiosity, and not just about the odd little creatures we share our world with. I spend a lot of time on my phone, and through exploring rabbit holes on Imprint, I can make that time much more worthwhile. But don't take my word for it. Tap into your curiosity and give Imprint a try using the link in the description below. Using my link, you'll get 20% off their annual subscription, and you'll be supporting a brand that helps make this channel possible. Try Imprint today. We're only partway through the rabbit hole of insect toxins. It doesn't stop at butterflies. I find myself in southern Florida on the hunt for one of America's most insane snakes, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake. But the types of habitat that this snake needs to survive are some of the most biodiverse in the country, leading to many unusual adaptations. In the expanses of cypress swamps, even the insects have to be on another level to stay alive. And wouldn't you have it, this strikingly colored grasshopper I found along the trail has a toxic secret. That is a grasshopper right there. Look at the size of this thing. I mean, I have, I get comments about, oh that's not a big spider, because they see things in my hand. Just for reference, I can palm a regulation-sized basketball, and this is how big this grasshopper is in my hand. In these kinds of cypress swamps, and more waterlogged type habitats, especially in the deep south, one of these guys is actually something that you might come across. And while we're out here, we're searching for Burmese pythons and eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, I had a feeling we might come across the eastern lubber grasshopper. This is a giant, giant insect. The largest grasshopper in the entire country, and possibly even the continent. I'm not sure how far north the trapezoid get. So why is this one able to get so giant? And as you can see, even with this one being kind of almost out of reach, I was still able to get her. Why are they so slow? Why are they so big? Why are they so dumpy? Well, the truth is, this insect is actually poisonous. What they do is, if you pick them up and disturb them, they can froth a really noxious chemical from their abdomen here. And while it's not really that toxic to humans, it can make a lot of their predators very ill, and it tastes horrible. So a lot of predators have learned, when they see these large grasshoppers, just to keep their distance and leave them alone. Which allows them to grow massively, massively huge, and exist pretty much in peace here in the swamp. And while this one is not super, super bright colored, a lot of these guys actually advertise the fact that it's poisonous. This is probably the darkest lubber grasshopper that I've ever seen, and I actually was super excited to see it when I saw it in the corner of my eye, because it's actually a more unusual color morph. They look more like this as nymphs, with that black coloration, and those yellow accents. Which again, give them really no camouflage in the environment, except for just kind of when they're sitting in the mud. But when they're bright orange, they kind of stick right out. They're these big, slow-moving, bright colored grasshoppers. They want to be seen, because their whole entire shtick is that they taste bad, and they have bright colors. So all the raccoons, and lizards, and birds, just kind of leave them alone. In the southeast US, where so many of the creatures that slink in the shadows are incredibly venomous, the less charismatic herbivores need these toxic defenses to deter the innumerable creatures that would like to end their lives and eat them. And while the grasshoppers are the poisonous herbivores that dominate the daytime, an even more toxic insect creeps out of hiding when the sun goes down. I've seen these before, but I don't think I've ever seen one quite this big. Look at that walking stick right there. What I've got right here is the two-striped walking stick, actually two of them. You can see there's a little male on her back. What's crazy is those males are always so tiny, it's thought that they don't really eat. As adults, it's possible their entire purpose is just to mate and then die. But the females, they are voracious herbivores. And as you can see, they get pretty darn big. But that's not the most interesting things about these bizarre insects. They actually have just about everything you could hope to want in an insect. They are big and cool-looking, they are walking sticks, and they are poisonous. Yes, you heard that right. Poisonous. They're not dangerous to people anyway, but they are something you would not want to try and eat. See, these walking sticks right here are so special because they're one of the only, if not the only, species of walking stick in the world that is toxic. And the way their toxin manifests is actually in a couple of different ways. They're pretty well defended. And if we look at them, there's actually a pretty obvious reason why. They're a little bit stick-like, right? But they're not anywhere near as camouflaged as like the northern walking stick or some of the lichen phasmids from the tropics. They kind of stick out a little bit because they're bulky and even have some bright colorations. In some populations, that yellowish stripe there they get their name from is bright white, and that dark brownish tan striping they have is actually jet black. And that wouldn't give them any good camouflage in the environment. It's a form of aposematic coloration. They stick out because they want to show, hey, don't mess with me because I can mess you up. The way they do that is usually first with a spray. They will warn you that they are not as delicious a meal as they might look by spraying from little glands in the back of their thorax. Oh, there it is. I didn't see it, but it smells bad. It smells like... think of some of the worst body odor that you've smelled, and that's about as bad as these guys smell. It smells like a like a locker room. It's not good. But what happens is that that bad smelling chemical isn't just to smell bad. If that gets in your eyes or cut, it's gonna burn. It's super, super irritating, and it's a unique toxin that is basically only found in this group of walking sticks. And if that's not interesting enough, not only do they smell terrible when they spray, not only is that spray irritating to your eyes and mucous membranes and stuff, it's also toxic. So if you were to eat them, if the bad smell and the burning of your eyes, nose, and mouth wasn't enough, if you decided to still eat them anyway, they would not only taste bad, but make you pretty sick. That irritating chemical inside your digestive system would make you feel terrible. Now, the toxin isn't really all that well understood, mostly because it's never killed anyone, so we haven't had a reason to really research it. So if you want to research it, by all means. I'd love to know what this toxic can actually do. We don't actually know exactly how it will hurt you or what it's doing, what the mechanism of the toxin is, but we do know that it's not a pleasant ordeal if these insects are eaten. And that has allowed them to really proliferate across the southeast. These guys are pretty much everywhere. As variable as the insects are that use poisonous chemicals to survive, so too are the ways they deploy their poisons. From glow-in-the-dark chemicals, to deadly blood, to noxious chemicals spraying out of joints in your body, you've got quite the list of options if you decided to use poison to survive the horrors of the insect world. But that's the thing, these toxins are meant to help keep these insects alive, and it's why they've evolved warning colors to keep predators away. They don't want to have to use their toxic defenses, but they want to be eaten even less. As long as we admire them from a distance, even the most toxic of the insects on this list are no threat to us, and are nothing more than simple creatures trying to make their way in the universe. And the insect world gets even weirder than this. In my experience, as creative as insects are when it comes to chemical defenses, the cunning defenses of these arthropods really shine when we get into their immaculate camouflage. If you want to see some of the most incredible disguises in the world, check out this video right here. Hope to see you there, but until next time, don't forget to get outside, and find your own adventure.