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Project Noah Nature School
Doratifera quadriguttata
A spectacular 'slug-foot' type of caterpillar about 30mm long. Pale greens with a medial dorsal pattern of circles, spots and segments of magenta, yellow, white and black. A few red horns either end. Ten lateral pale green horizontal spines.
This one was crossing a dirt track in a lightly forested area with mostly eucalyptus trees. National Park.
These pack a real wallop of a sting if mis-handled. It may have fallen from a nearby tree but these should be looking for a spot to pupate at this time of year. They usually choose a niche in rough bark on a gum tree where they create a gumnut shaped cocoon from silk from their mouths. The moth is remarkably boring by comparison. This one was picked up with a stick and placed on the base of the nearest eucalypt.
Mobile phone pic. https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:...
Spotted on Mar 9, 2020
Submitted on Mar 9, 2020
2 Comments
What a beauty! Another cool spotting, Mark.
Spectacular indeed!