00:00If I asked you to close your eyes and picture a venomous creature, what would you come up with?
00:08One of these? Maybe even this?
00:10Well, according to researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia,
00:14this guy is not only highly venomous, but new research has revealed it evolved its venom
00:18with the help from some tiny little friends.
00:21This is a caterpillar, or the larva of what's commonly called the flannel moth.
00:25According to the new study, toxins from bacteria could be responsible for having aided the development
00:30of the creature's painful stings via a process called horizontal gene transfer.
00:35The caterpillars actually sting via venomous spurs hidden beneath their luxurious coats.
00:39According to the researchers, it's so painful it's been described as walking on hot coals,
00:44or the worst pain a patient has ever experienced.
00:47While researchers were investigating why it was so painful,
00:50they noticed it was quite different from other venomous caterpillars.
00:52It works in a very similar way to bacterial toxin, binding to a cell's surface,
00:57and eventually ripping holes in it, with the researchers concluding the bacteria must have passed it along,
01:02writing,
01:02The venom in these caterpillars has evolved via the transfer of genes from bacteria more than 400 million years ago.
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