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Project Noah Nature School
Scotorythra sp.
Large (~70mm long) plump caterpillar with muted, mottled, off-brown "woodsy" camouflage coloration.
Suburban area on tropical upland plateau.
Spotted dining on koa leaves. For several days I had noticed evidence of herbivory--pieces of young koa leaves--on the ground below a koa (Acacia koa) tree in my yard. I looked about for the cause, but failed to see anything. I decided to look after dark. At first, I saw nothing, but as I was about to give up, I spotted a caterpillar, probably a moth larva. I took its picture in situ (the first image) and then removed it from its dinner. I took it inside to try to get better pics. After thrashing violently when being removed from the tree, it chose to curl up, not a good pose for the pictures I wanted. Eventually, I went outside, got a pruned koa branch, brought it inside, and put the creature on it, thinking it might start moving. It didn't. I took a picture anyway (the second image), which on inspection shows the spiracles (two per segment, one on each side) along its length. They are used for respiration. I decided to house the caterpillar in a box overnight before releasing it in a different location in the morning. For some reason, when put inside the box, it straightened out, so I took the third picture.
Spotted on Apr 28, 2013
Submitted on Apr 29, 2013
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I spotted a second caterpillar of this species, this one ~60mm long, on 20 April 2014, almost exactly a year after the initial spotting, in the same place, engaged in feeding on the same Koa (Acacia koa) tree. A little online research was rewarded with an ID. A picture of the more recent spotting has been added as the fourth image.