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Project Noah Nature School
I'm still amazed that I noticed this! This little caterpillar was around 15mm long, walking along a steel wire fence. It would contort itself into a small loop, then lift its entire front half forwards, then do the same with the back half and repeat, no conventional crawling, this little creature was more like a living slinky!
A positive ID is determined by having a complete Family and Species scientific name. You've identified the family which is fantastic, but let's see if you can find the species ;)
We call them "inchworms" because they measure off their progress so deliberately, an inch at a time. I've seen more than one caterpillar species do this.
Caterpillars that move like that are called inchworms! Or at least they were in North America. They grow up to me geometer moths. But, as I said, I don't know that this is the same here in the UK!
Spotted on May 21, 2011
Submitted on May 21, 2011
