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These caterpillars appear regularly during certain seasons on the small coral island of Chumbe (Tanzania). According to local rangers they do not form butterflies. Help with ID appreciated!
At the time of visit bushes were full of them.
Chumbe Island is a coral nature reserve developed since 1991. Find out more about Chumbe Island at http://www.chumbeisland.com
Thank you so much Tukup! I think you're correct. It's getting late for me here but I'l reply more tomorrow :-)
Hi Daniele. I’ve been trying to track down this beautiful caterpillar with an amazing lack of success. I came across an article on pest control in Africa which identified a very similar looking oneas Cirina forda. Following that led be to the following link:
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesd...
I believe that is your caterpillar. They say it is found in Western Africa, but if they can call Zimbabwe Western Africa, I guess you can call Tanzania Western Africa too :-)
No worries IgCostaNut! In the mean time another thing you can do is as you invite people to your mission you can provide them with a direct link to the mission: in your case:
http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8382...
They'll be taken there and be able to join even without erasing their location from the local missions page.
thanks for your help today Daniele! I wrote Peter. It would be cool if you would give him a nudge if you think it worthy.
Thanks for your comments martinl and Sachin! martinl I agree, and I'm changing the name to "unknown caterpillar".
I'm with florida33girl and believe this to be a true caterpillar (moth larva). There are larvae called false caterpillars that become wasps and they are probably technically called grubs. http://ichn.iec.cat/bages/planes/Imatges...
Thanks Karen! I too would really like to know!
Thanks for your long comment florida33girl! I hoped you or Kristen would notice this! "False caterpillar" was the named used by a local ranger when I asked about those critters. I agree with you: I see 3 true pairs of legs and 4-5 forelegs so that makes it a true caterpillar. The rangers on Chumbe Island are mostly recruited from former fishermen from adjacent villages, and are still being trained and learning. They had some reference literature about species found on the Island but nothing about these guys. They could tell me that they get several broods a year in including during the wet season (my time of visit). As for the leaves they were eating, me bad! I didn't pay attention as the bush was in a planted area near the inhabited part of the island and I was concentrating on wild flora. Big mistake... It wasn't in bloom. So I'm still looking. I hope we can narrow it down : there are 1700 species of moths in Tanzania!
I'm intrigued by the name "false caterpillar". That often refers to larvae of non-lepidoptera insects like sawflies, but this caterpillar looks to have the right number of prolegs (the stumpy legs along the lower part of the abdomen) to be a true caterpillar (5 pairs or less). True caterpillars become butterflies or moths, and moth caterpillars are highly variable even in the same species - I'm betting this is some kind of moth caterpillar. Do you happen to know the kind of plant it was eating? That often helps with caterpillar IDs. Great shots, by the way - excellent for IDs if you can just find someone with the right knowledge!
Spotted on Nov 19, 2011
Submitted on Dec 13, 2011
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