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Project Noah Nature School
Acharia ophelians
Limacodidae catterpilar, Help with the specie ID?
Eating Host Plant Anonna squamosa
What an interesting spotting, although it is creepy for the caterpillars. Congratulations!
Great spotting Susana,amazing capture,congrats on the SOTD and thanks for sharing
Congratulations Susana on SOTD! Wonderful photos and amazing that the poor caterpillar survive so long. Beautiful caterpillar.
No, Marta, unfortunately the infected caterpillar would not survive, but they will live as long as the parasitic wasps emerge out of the "cotton"-like pupae. The wasp larva are feeding the whole time of not vital organs and structures of the caterpillar.
Congratulations on the SOTD! I just erased my message by mistake, haha! here is again. I was saying poor caterpillars ..but do they survive this?
@ Karen & @SusanaGarcíaBlanco Thanks , you have just helped me with this -
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/118...
Susana, a nice spotting and congratulations. I only have one question. Did it take one wasp or two to achieve this?
Congratulations on the SOTD, SusanaGarcíaBlanco.
It is a bit creepy this Parasitism thing but it happens. It is happening right now on some beautiful caterpillars in my garden.... : (
Welcome back Susana, & congratulations your fascinating capture has earned you Spotting of the Day!
These caterpillars have been parasitized by a species of braconid wasp. This wasp laid its eggs inside the caterpillar where they hatched into larvae that fed on its muscle tissues, while leaving its heart and other essential organs intact. Once mature, the larvae chewed their way out from the caterpillars skin and built the silken cocoons within which they will metamorphose into adult wasps that will fly off to infect other caterpillars.
Facebook: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/126...
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/4...
Spotted on Dec 21, 2013
Submitted on Dec 21, 2013
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