Meet the pitcher plant moths, Exyra semicrocea: one of the few insects badass enough to live their whole lives in a trap specifically evolved to kill their kind.
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Pitcher plants are finely tuned to kill insects, with slippery sloping walls leading down to a pit of insect-dissolving digestive juices. But these little guys turned the tables! From the moment they hatch, they’re a pitcher’s nightmare.
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The spiky blood-red caterpillars seal the pitchers’ entrances and eat them from the inside out, using the death trap as their own personal sanctuary from predators. They have specialized feet to grip onto the slippery walls, and use silk as a safety line to keep themselves from falling to their deaths.
When they emerge as adults, they wait until nightfall and then go party in other pitchers.
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Adults have only ever been observed to perch inside pitchers with their heads facing up. It’s assumed that their grip only works in one direction, and if they slip up they could fall in (like the poor fly below).
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