alimentarse de vs. alimentarse con

Question

In an article about monarch butterflies there is the following:

Luego de cuatro días, ese juevo se rompe y se transforma en oruga. Se alimenta con la cáscara y eso le permite transcurrir los siguientes quince días.

I've often heard "alimentarse de" when someone wants to say feeds on/eats. I understand that in the sentence above, the caterpillar eats its shell/skin, but because alimentarse is followed by "con" rather than "de," I am wondering whether alimentarse here is a pronomial verb or a reflexive verb. In other words, is the translation the caterpillar feeds upon/ eats the shell/skin, or is it the caterpillar feeds itself with the shell/skin?

Answer 1

Interesting question.

First it is a pronomial verb not a reflexive verb. Why? Because it is not eating itself but rather its shell.

The pronomial usage seems to mean "to live on" while the transitive/intrasitive seems to mean "to feed on".

So in reality not much of a difference in meaning.

The dictionary has the following:

alimentarse pronominal verb 1. (general) a. no direct translation alimentarse de=>to live on

And this:

alimentar transitive verb 1 (dar de comer a) to feed alimentan el ganado con piensos => they feed the cattle with animal fodder;

And finally this:

alimentar transitive verb 4 [+hoguera, horno doméstico, fuego] to feed; add fuel to; [+horno industrial] to stoke el operario alimenta la máquina de o con combustible => the operator feeds fuel into the machine

Answer 2

Both options are correct, and are used equally. I think that there are no differences between them.

If you are wonder about it, you should know that there is other option, you can follow the verb alimentarse with a, for example:

El ejercito se alimento a base de patatas

About your last question, it is not clear for me, because both options are the same for me. I think that the difference you wrote about is that in one case all worms eat all shells and the other one, each worm eats its own shell. In the text is not clearly defined any of both cases, but attending on my experience I think that it refers to the second one.

Answer 3

Alimentarse doesn't mean that you eat yourself, It means that the action of giving food to you is made by yourself.