Would you raise the baby that ate your siblings? - Francesca Barbero

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Shelley Tsang 曾雯海

You might not guess it, but this Alcon blue butterfly

你可能猜不到，

但這種霾灰蝶是一種寄生蟲，

is a parasite whose offspring will live highly unusual lives.

牠的後代會過著非常不尋常的生活。

She lays pinhead-sized eggs on a wildflower and is off.

牠會在野花上產下針頭 大小的卵，然後就飛走了。

The first tiny caterpillar hatches a few days later.

幾天後，第一隻小毛蟲會孵化，

After two weeks living within a flower bud,

在花蕾中生活兩週後，

he embarks on a high-risk operation that will require infiltrating

牠便要著手進行一項高風險的行動，

牠得要臥底潛入 一個看守嚴密的堡壘。

a densely guarded fortress undercover.

He secretes a thread of silk and descends to the ground.

牠分泌了一條絲線，下降至地面。

Here, he's more vulnerable than ever, but he holds still and waits.

這裡是牠最容易受到傷害的地方，

但牠一動不動地等候著。

His descent perfectly coincides with the peak foraging hours

牠降下來的時間點恰好是

附近紅螞蟻群大量出來覓食的時間，

of the nearby red ant colony.

Soon enough, a worker ant encounters the caterpillar.

很快，一隻工蟻遇到了毛蟲。

She inspects his cuticle with her sensitive antennae

牠用牠敏銳的觸角 檢查了毛蟲的表皮，

and picks up on key chemical cues that she uses to recognize her kin.

找出了牠用來辨識 同類的重要化學線索，

This is all part of the caterpillar's disguise.

這些都是毛蟲的偽裝。

The worker picks him up and reverses course.

工蟻把牠扛起來，走原路返回。

Indeed, the caterpillar doesn't battle his way into the fortress.

的確，毛蟲不靠打仗來進入堡壘。

No— he wouldn't stand a chance.

打仗牠贏不了。

He's shepherded in because the ant

牠是被護送進來的，

因為螞蟻把牠當成 自己群體中的幼蟲。

is treating him like one of her colony's own larvae.

They pass legions of ants poised to attack invaders

牠們經過一支又一支準備 攻擊入侵者的螞蟻大軍，

and enter the intricately architected, subterranean nest,

進入錯綜複雜的地下巢穴，

which is sheltered, moist, and stockpiled with resources.

這個巢穴有掩蔽、很潮濕， 且儲備了豐富的資源。

If the caterpillar's mimicry didn't work,

如果毛蟲的模仿術沒有用，

he might have been left for dead or taken as food himself.

牠可能就會被留在那裡 等死或被當成食物吃掉。

Instead, the ant places the caterpillar in the nursery,

反之，這隻螞蟻把毛蟲 安置到育兒房，

among the colony's own cherished brood.

裡面還有這個群體自己寶貝的幼蟲。

Here, he produces sugary secretions that the worker ants feed from.

在這裡，牠產生的含糖 分泌物是工蟻的食物，

The nurse ants dote upon him,

保姆蟻很溺愛牠，

regurgitating food into his mouth frequently.

經常用反芻的方式餵食牠。

But he has a voracious appetite.

但牠的胃口很大。

He arches his body in a begging posture to obtain more food,

牠拱起身體，做出乞討姿勢， 以取得更多食物。

and, every now and then, eats one of his own nestmates.

有時，還會吃掉牠自己的巢友。

The caterpillar also does things that the ant larvae can't:

毛蟲還會做螞蟻幼蟲不會做的事：

he makes noises that sound a lot like those emitted by the ant queens.

牠會發出很像蟻后發出的聲音。

In effect, he signals that he's royalty and should be prioritized

實際上，牠發出 牠是皇室成員的訊息，

表明牠的順位優於真正的螞蟻幼蟲。

over the actual ant larvae.

And that's exactly what happens.

結果也確實如此。

The nurse ants feed him extra.

保姆蟻給牠額外的食物。

And when a wild boar causes part of the nest to collapse,

當野豬造成部分巢穴塌陷時，

the ants rescue the caterpillar first.

螞蟻也最先救出毛蟲。

While members of the ant colony suffer reduced survival rates

雖然成為負擔的毛蟲造成 螞蟻群體的成員生存率下降，

because of the burdensome caterpillar,

he passes the harsh winter living like royalty.

毛蟲卻像皇室成員般地度過嚴冬。

Come June, he's stored up plenty of nutrients

到了六月，

牠儲備了相當多的營養物 來做重大的蛻變。

to make a dramatic transformation.

He forms his chrysalis, and for three weeks,

牠形成牠自己的蛹， 且有三週的時間，

he uses a tooth-and-comb organ to create more queen-like acoustic vibrations,

牠使用一種齒梳器官來發出 像蟻后的聲音震動，

attracting workers to clean him.

吸引工蟻來幫牠做清潔。

Then, at dawn one day, he emerges an adult butterfly.

接著，有一天黎明， 牠以蝴蝶成蟲的模樣出現。

Wings still wet, his body easily fits through the gallery opening,

牠的翅膀還是濕的，牠的身體 很容易就擠出地道的出口，

and finally, 11 months after being taken in,

終於，被帶進來十一個月後，

he basks in the sun and begins searching for a mate.

牠曬到了太陽，並開始尋找配偶。

When he dies about a week later,

大約在一週後牠會死去，

he'll have spent the vast majority of his life in the realm of the ants.

牠的一生大部分 都待在螞蟻的王國裡。

The Alcon blue is one of as many as 200 parasitic butterfly species,

寄生蝴蝶有兩百種之多， 霾灰蝶只是其中之一，

all of which target ants.

這些寄生蝶的目標都是螞蟻。

Sometimes, multiple caterpillars inhabit the same ant colony at once.

有時，同樣的螞蟻群體中 會同時有多隻毛蟲借住。

Some stay for almost two years.

有些會待到近兩年之久。

But researchers are still parsing these complex relationships.

但研究者仍在分析這些複雜的關係。

For instance, certain ants guard Japanese oakblue caterpillars from predators

比如，某些螞蟻會保護紫小灰蝶的 毛蟲不被捕食性動物吃掉。

and consume the sugary secretions the caterpillars produce in return.

交換條件是要吃毛蟲的含糖分泌物。

But it turns out that this sweet concoction

但事實是，這種甜蜜的混合物

isn't a simple form of mutual assistance.

並不只是單純的互助形式。

Instead, chemicals in the secretions actually manipulate the ants' behavior,

反之，分泌物中的化學物質 實際上會操縱螞蟻的行為，

inhibiting their movement

抑制牠們的動作，

and making them more protective and aggressive caterpillar guards.

把牠們變成更有保護心、 更有侵略性的毛蟲守衛。

Despite these masterful manipulations,

儘管有這些巧妙的操縱，

parasitic butterflies are vulnerable themselves.

寄生蝴蝶本身仍然很容易受傷害。

They're also the targets of parasitism.

牠們也是其他生物寄生的目標。

Even within their adopted, high-security hideaways,

即使毛蟲躲在收養 牠們的森嚴藏身處，

parasitoid wasps sometimes track the caterpillars down

寄生黄蜂有時仍能 追蹤到毛蟲的所在，

and lay eggs on their bodies.

並在牠們身上產卵。

When the wasp larvae hatch, they consume the caterpillars alive.

黃蜂的幼蟲孵化後， 會把毛蟲活活吃掉。

And because their life cycles consist of such a complex choreography

且因為牠們的生命循環 包含如此複雜的編排，

involving specific plants and ants,

牽涉到特定的植物和螞蟻，

small environmental changes can affect their populations.

小小的環境改變就可能會 影響到牠們的數量。

One parasitic butterfly species actually went extinct in the UK in 1979,

實際上，1979 年英國 就有一種寄生蝴蝶絕種了，

before being reintroduced a few years later.

幾年後才又被重新引入。

They've since rebounded alongside efforts to restore the meadow habitats

隨著大家努力恢復這種蝴蝶的宿主 茁壯生長所需要的草地棲息地，

their host ants require to thrive—

牠們的數量也再次回升，

helping preserve these riveting relationships

讓這種引人入勝的關係 得以保存下來，

and the astonishing adaptations they inspire.

繼續向世界展示它們 促成的驚人適應力。