A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Metura elongatus
A moth case about 125mm long and about 12 to15mm wide. The case was made up of multiple short pieces of cropped sticks, some probably leaf stalks, embedded in silk. The case was seen hanging high up on an outer wall of a building.
This is the largest case moth ( family: Psychidae) I've seen. The caterpillar lives inside this silk bag and protrudes out through the top end to feed at night. Waste matter is extruded out through the rear end (free hanging end). New plant material, in this case cropped sticks, are added to the case at one end, as the caterpillar grows. The caterpillar pupates within the case. If the moth is male it exits the case via the rear end in search of a female. If it's female, the moth remains within the case and mating occurs through the opening at the rear end. The case looked well stuck to the wall suggesting that this is probably the final resting place for it. Will keep an eye on this for as long as possible.....it was on a school building !
Spotted on Apr 10, 2013
Submitted on Apr 12, 2013
4 Comments
Thanks Jemma.
BTW , Congratulations for becoming a Ranger!!!!
Just noticed it!
Yes, Jemma. I saw the caterpillar on a similar case moth that I spotted a couple of years ago. They are quite robust-looking and cover a large distance quite quickly.
Would be nice to see the caterpillar popping out!