While some reptiles are carnivores or insectivores and eat crickets, mealworms, hornworms, waxworms, dubia roaches, or live reptile food (e.g., small rodents), others are herbivores and thrive on leafy greens and other plant matter. "We envision harnessing the waxworm and its microbiome to develop approaches that do not require whole organisms – rather the products or by-products produced from their interactions that make their ability to breakdown plastic so efficient," Cassone said.Reptiles have unique diets that require a deep understanding of available options to keep them happy and healthy. The hope, Cassone said, is that if researchers can harness what in the gut bacteria helps caterpillars so easily break down plastic, it can be used to design better ways to eliminate plastic from the environment. Wax larvae are pests for bees, naturally feeding off honeycomb and running the risk of reducing their populations – and those of plants and crops.įurther, it remains unclear how the plastic breakdown process works in the waxworm, and how its health is affected by its consumption. Waxworms are not an end-all solution to plastic waste, however.
In waxworms, polyethylene metabolizes into a glycol, which is biodegradable. Researchers found a greater amount of "microbial abundance" in the caterpillars' guts when they were ingesting plastic than when they ate a traditional diet of honeycomb.
"The caterpillar's gut microbiota seem to play a key role in the polyethylene biodegradation process," the researchers wrote. Researchers at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada, found that waxworms are able to "ingest and metabolize polyethylene at unprecedented rates" thanks to the microorganisms in their intestines.
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