Summary
Clothes-moth caterpillars quietly chew holes in wool sweaters -- but a tiny wasp can hunt them down. Deep Look shows the pest and the natural enemy that keeps it in check.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
Clothes-moth larvae have mouthparts that digest wool, a food few animals can eat. A tiny parasitic wasp finds the larvae and lays eggs on them, so the wasp's young grow by eating the pest -- a natural way to control clothes moths.
- What do clothes-moth caterpillars eat that most animals can't?
- How does the tiny wasp help control the moth pest?
- Why might people prefer a natural enemy over a chemical spray?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: larva, pest, parasite, control.
Try it: Draw a wool sweater with a moth hole and a tiny wasp nearby. Write how the wasp keeps the pest in check.