Certain animals co-opt environmental toxins for defense
Multiple studies confirm that various animal species consume, sequester, and co-opt environmental or dietary toxins for their own defense against predators.
The retrieved literature consistently supports the claim that numerous animal species (such as poison frogs, milkweed bugs, and certain insects) acquire, sequester, and utilize environmental and dietary toxins for chemical defense. Papers [1], [2], [4], [5], [6], and [7] all provide direct empirical and review evidence confirming this phenomenon.
van Thiel J, Khan MA, Wouters RM, Harris RJ, Casewell NR, Fry BG, Kini RM, Mackessy SP, Vonk FJ, Wüster W, Richardson MK. Convergent evolution of toxin resistance in animals.. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12865
Discusses how poisonous animals feed on toxic prey and accumulate or utilize toxins for self-protection.
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Ibanez S, Gallet C, Després L. Plant insecticidal toxins in ecological networks.. 2012. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins4040228
Notes that aposematic insects sequester plant toxins to defend themselves against predators.
Tarvin RD, Coleman JL, Donoso DA, Betancourth-Cundar M, López-Hervas K, Gleason KS, Sanders JR, Smith JM, Ron SR, Santos JC, Sedio BE, Cannatella DC, Fitch RW. Passive accumulation of alkaloids in inconspicuously colored frogs refines the evolutionary paradigm of acquired chemical defenses.. 2024. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.100011
Explains how poison frogs acquire and sequester alkaloids from their diet for chemical defense.
Rubiano-Buitrago P, Pradhan S, Aceves AA, Mohammadi S, Paetz C, Rowland HM. Cardenolides in the defensive fluid of adult large milkweed bugs have differential potency on vertebrate and invertebrate predator Na<sup>+</sup>/K<sup>+</sup>-ATPases.. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231735
Examines how milkweed bugs sequester and deploy defensive cardenolides derived from their diet.
Plata Á, Züst T, Bermejo A, Beitia FJ, Tena A. Exotic predators can sequester and use novel toxins from exotic non-coevolved prey.. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2478
Demonstrates that non-coevolved predators can sequester and use novel chemical defenses from their prey.
Binns GE, Hämäläinen L, Rowland HM, Caputi L, Kunert M, Mappes J, Ramon-Cabrera GM, Umbers KDL, Hart NS, Herberstein ME. Sexual differences in defensive strategies: investigating chemical defences and visual signals in a wasp moth <i>Amata nigriceps</i>.. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.242186
Reports that wasp moths sequester steroidal alkaloids and alkylbenzenes for chemical defense.
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