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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Owlet Moths (Noctuidae)
Photo#157455
New caterpillar 1
Copyright © 2007 Lee Ruth

New caterpillar 1
Cass County, Texas, USA
Size: 25 mm
I cannot ID this closer than that it is a caterpillar, lol. It was right against the white cocoon webbing that is shown but I have no idea if that implies anything. You can see a very small white caterpillar amongst the webbing in the bottom right corner of the image. I will link a close up image with this group of images.

Lee

Images of this individual: tag all
New caterpillar 1 New caterpillar 2 New caterpillar 3 New caterpillar 4 close-up
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Contributed by Lee Ruth on 19 November, 2007 - 4:11pm
Last updated 24 December, 2007 - 12:04pm

Oftentimes the cocoon is made by parasitoids
that have invaded the caterpillar, eaten out its insides, and then emerged to pupate. The small white larva may be some wasp larva which are preparing to pupate. Was the caterpillar essentially motionless, listless, and emaciated? It would be interesting to hang on to the cocoon and photograph the small parasitic wasps that emerge.
… john and jane balaban, 19 November, 2007 - 4:54pm login or register to post comments

 
Listless
may be a bit to strong a term but it did seem to have a problem with using the anal prolegs. They never seemed to grab the perch as well as I expected.

However, the caterpillar did not look emaciated and it did crawl around a fair amount.

I will check tomorrow on the tiny white larvae and the cocoon and if still there, I will put them in separate jars for observation.

You neglected to venture a suggestion about an ID for the caterpillar. Am I being too bold by asking "Why not", lol.

Lee.
… Lee Ruth, 19 November, 2007 - 6:04pm login or register to post comments

 
We would guess it to be one of the
cutworms or armyworms in the Noctuidae, but we are woefully ignorant of the Texas fauna :(
Wagner will be publishing a new book on the Noctuid caterpillars, and maybe then we can sort out some of these images. But either way, we would guess these images should be placed with the hymenopteran parasitoids. We think that makes a much more interesting story.
… john and jane balaban, 24 December, 2007 - 10:34am login or register to post comments

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