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Project Noah Nature School
Entometa apicalis
This downy caterpillar was about 25 mm long. It had a brown and cream blotchy appearance. Pic 2 shows an angry caterpillar rearing its front end, tucking its head under and displaying a pair of erectile horns on the metathorax. Also displayed were two black strips one in front of the horns and other just posterior to the horns. The caterpillar curved its rear end also as a threat (Pic 2). Normally the "horns" at the head end are seen flat against the body. the rear end of the caterpillar has a protuberant knob that resembles the end of a broken twig. The caterpillar had four red prolegs. Pic 3 shows the caterpillar feeding and when it was disturbed it displayed behaviours as seen in pic 2. After about 20 min. it had descended the branch and was resting with its body totally camouflaged against the branch (pic 5). I realised then that there were two of them on either side of the branch ( pic 6).
Spotted on a young eucalyptus tree in a nature reserve.
It was only a couple of minutes that I observed this caterpillar closely and was lucky to see it display its irritation. These caterpillars are not active during the day but rest unnoticed on branches.
More information:
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au...
Family: Lasiocampidae
Subfamily: Lasiocampinae
Spotted on Feb 8, 2015
Submitted on Feb 8, 2015
19 Comments
A beautiful caterpillar....
Thanks Sergio.
What an awesome caterpillar, Leuba. And the way it camouflages itself, it is amazing!!! I loved it, congrats.
Thanks for your comment Ingrid. It was dramatic with it's horns and up-turned 'tail' one minute and so well camouflaged the next !
I LOVE this Awesome beastie!!!
Thank you Rangers - honoured !
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
dobber
Thanks Martin & Daniele for your nice comments. The first shot is Mark's actually he snuck it in and did not want me to acknowledge his "artistic' shot- being taller he could shoot the caterpillar against a clear background. I consider mine more boringly scientific. :)
So interesting and well documented Leuba! And the first shot is incredibly beautiful.
Congratulations on a fine series Leuba.
What a difference between the active and resting poses.
Thanks everyone.
What looks like white filaments are actually soft setae that point back and down all along the length of the body - you can see it in Pic 4. These snout moth caterpillars all seem to have it. The soft hairs seem to be very useful in the camouflage.
What a wonderful series, Leuba, and the information is very interesting; a very nice description of what we are seeing. In the first photo, I wondered if it was a caterpillar that had been parasitized because of the white filaments.
Super spotting!
Very nice capture Leuba Ridgway!
Just noticed the 5th shot. Quite a transformation. I would have thought it was a Notodontid for sure.
This is a really amazing caterpillar!
Amazing !
I call this fathead.