mantids, hornworms, and nicotine

Please, no introduced mantids

The Chinese mantis is a non-native species. Many think that it is a good idea to have them around, but unfortunately they eat the native mantis among other things. I wish people would stop distributing them.
The parasitic wasps are actually a lot more effective. Check the page. They do a great job and they are good at finding infested tomato plants.
I agree that the misnomer of "tobacco hornworm" is annoying. I always have to explain that to people when they correct me saying "that is not a tobacco hornworm; it is on a tomato plant".
I don't think that tomatoes have a high content of nicotine, but they have other strong alkaloids, perhaps just as powerful.

… Beatriz Moisset, 30 July, 2012 - 5:15pm

Chinese mantis

Yeah, the woman who runs the farm was so excited about what she took to be a responsible means of insect control that I didn't have the heart to tell her that the Chinese mantids weren't such a great idea. And I could be wrong about the ID... but I kinda doubt it. But it inspired me to try to get her something native for next season. I figure I'll get a positive ID on these, and destroy any egg casings and remaining adults (since they're confined to the greenhouse). I wonder if I can get hold of some _native_ mantid eggs or wasp eggs?

… Wendy Jegla, 30 July, 2012 - 5:56pm

But nicotine from where...?

Though they are commonly called Tobacco Hornworms, their real name is the Carolina Sphinx (Manduca sexta). They do eat tobacco plants, but they eat a wide variety of plants and are especially fond of the same veggies we love. So unless these caterpillars have fed on tobacco leaves, they will contain no nicotine.

Carolina Sphinx

… Cassie Novak, 29 July, 2012 - 9:33pm

nightshade plants

Well, from what I understand, all nightshade family plants contain varying amounts of nicotine. It's a powerful insecticide, except of course for those critters who have evolved the ability to withstand it. I do think it's interesting that most of my caterpillar sources indicate that the tobacco hornworm is a bit of a misnomer, since it's more often found on tomatoes than the tomato hornworm is!

… Wendy Jegla, 30 July, 2012 - 4:09pm

To be precise, not nicotine

Nightshade-family plants produce a huge variety of alkaloids: nicotine, solanine, atropine, hyoscamine, scopolamine, etc. There are similarities between them, but they're not all the same (capsaicin,the compound that makes chili peppers hot, is an alkaloid as well) . As far as I know the only plants with significant amounts of nicotine are the tobaccos (genus Nicotiana). Tomatoes are more likely to have solanine (though not nearly as much as some of the other solanums).

… Chuck Entz, 31 July, 2012 - 4:40am

they eat everything!

Researched on google for about 20 minutes on this topic. Couldn't find much about the praying mantis' resistance to nicotine but I did find bits and pieces of certain articles that said it is very common for praying mantis to eat tobacco hornworms. In many articles it talks about such things as beneficial bugs like the lady bug that you can put in your garden to have them feast on the bad bugs. Many sites came up with people having problems with their tomato plants being eaten by tobacco hornworms and the praying mantis was the number one suggested bug to have feast on thw worms. I guess there are actual catalogs where you can order beneficial bugs to put them in your garden for these pest problems. Another article also said praying mantis will eat almost anything in its path including eachother. Hope I helped a bit! ~Jordan

… MissMae417, 29 July, 2012 - 9:14pm

amazing stuff

Thanks! Someone out there must be researching nicotine-resistance in these critters... I wonder if both the hornworm and the mantids use the same chemistry to avoid the nasty effects. In any case, it's not often I get to watch insect behavior on such a macro scale!

… Wendy Jegla, 30 July, 2012 - 4:14pm