Download live wax worms10/10/2023 ![]() ![]() The researchers say the molecular details of wax biodegradation require further investigation, but it's likely that digesting beeswax and polyethylene involves breaking down similar types of chemical bonds. The worms hatch and grow on beeswax, which is composed of a highly diverse mixture of lipid compounds. Wax moths lay their eggs inside beehives. This is suspected to be the case in Plodia interpunctella as well.Īlthough wax worms wouldn't normally eat plastic, the researchers suspect that their ability is a byproduct of their natural habits. The researchers showed that the wax worms were not only ingesting the plastic, they were also chemically transforming the polyethylene into ethylene glycol. Further study showed that the worms can do damage to a plastic bag in less than an hour.Īfter 12 hours, all that munching of plastic leads to an obvious reduction in plastic mass. A previous study (doi: 10.1021/es504038a) has shown that Plodia interpunctella wax worms, the larvae of dian mealmoths, can also digest plastic.īertocchini and her colleagues made the discovery quite by accident, after noticing that plastic bags containing wax worms quickly became riddled with holes. "We have found that the larva of a common insect, Galleria mellonella, is able to biodegrade one of the toughest, most resilient, and most used plastics: polyethylene," says Federica Bertocchini of the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria in Spain. ![]()
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