When insects eat other insects, is it cannibalism?

Testing this idea required a little creativity, because we needed a way to track cannibalism and herbivory by individual caterpillars, which is a tricky proposition when multiple caterpillars can also eat each other. read more

So if insects eating insects is cannibalism, so is humans eating stake or bacon. Cannibalism is not well defined other than when it is human eating human. But most of us agree that human eating cow or pig is not cannibalism. read more

Matriphagy, or mother-eating, is found in some species of insects, scorpions, nematode worms and spiders. One remarkable case of self-sacrifice taken to the limits occurs in crab spiders (Diaea ergandros). The mothers provide their spiderlings with unfertilized “nurse” eggs to eat. The young eat the eggs and also, slowly, their mother. read more

Sexual cannibalism is common among insects, arachnids and amphipods. There is also evidence of sexual cannibalism in gastropods and copepods. Sexual cannibalism is common among species with prominent sexual size dimorphism (SSD); extreme SSD likely drove the evolution of sexual cannibalism in spiders. read more