Thursday, August 13, 2009

BUG WEEK: In Which We Prepare To Copy An Orchid's Strategy

A Vespa's more than just a motorbike --
It's also, first, a hornet who'll attack
'Most anything it nears that smells just like
A honeybee in fear, it's fav'rite snack.
There is an orchid, a Dendrobium
Which uses just these triggers for its own
Devices: pollenation. They succumb,
These hornets do, to a faked pheromone
The orchids make, that honeybees employ
To warn of danger lurking, and they dive
In search of food - but there's none to enjoy.
This knowledge soon may benefit each hive
Of honeybees that humans keep. We'll make
A trap that preys on this Vespa mistake!

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