Vegetable caterpillar

The fungus, called Cordyceps robertsii, awheto, or vegetable caterpillar, is the complex which develops between the caterpillar host of the Porina moth and the invading Cordyceps fungus. The fungus invades the caterpillar to the point where all that remains is the epidermis filled with fungal mycelia in a worm shaped structure.

New Zealand biotech company Whenua.biz is working to determine the bioactivity of a range of substances found in indigenous forest fungi. They are focusing on the awheto as it was used traditionally by Māori as food, medicine and for making tattoo ink.

The overseas species of awheto, called Cordyceps sinensis, is highly prized in China, Korea, and Japan, where it is also used in traditional medicine.

“We want to bring western scientific knowledge and traditional Māori knowledge together,” Mark Ross of Whenua.biz says.

Industrial Research Limited natural products chemist Stephen Tauwhare and his team are working with Whenua.biz to identify the particular bioactives associated with health and therapeutic benefits of the native awheto.

They want to scientifically prove the anecdotal claims of awheto’s health benefits.

“We are looking at the entomology of the organism – what other insects the fungus infects, what soil quality and climatic conditions it grows in best and ways to control that,” Stephen says.

“You can actually just ferment it, just grow it in a vat without the caterpillar, however there is a huge market out there for the caterpillar because it’s been used traditionally in the past.”

Find out more, get Radio New Zealand audio: Vegetable caterpillar.