Moths and butterflies are by far the most vegetarian of all the major insect orders; probably less than 1% are carnivorous, some in a regular basis, others only when vegetable material is scarce or when they are crowded. I became interested in the problem when I was raising some sawfly larvae and they began to disappear; the culprit was another larva which I had missed at first. It soon became bigger than all the other larvae and the differences became obvious. It turned out to be
Lithophane antennata, the Ashen Pinion. Sam Jaffe and Dave Wagner identified the caterpillar and added some comments, see them under this image:
The most complete information on carnivorous caterpillars is provided by Naomi Pierce, the author of
Predatory and Parasitic Lepidoptera: Carnivores living on plants. (Journal of Lepidopterists’ Society. 49(4), 1995, 412-453).
According to Naomi Pierce’s paper there are predatory and parasitic Lepidoptera in the following superfamilies: Tineoidea, Gelechioidea, Tortricoidea, Zyganenoidea, Pyraloidea, Geometroidea, Noctuoidea and Papilionoidea.
Some species are only carnivorous under conditions of food scarcity or crowding; in such circumstances some may also resort to cannibalism. That is the case of the pinions. There are other species which are obligate carnivores, such as the planthopper parasite moth and the harvester.
The most spectacular carnivorous caterpillars are a few Geometridae of Hawaii that have evolved amazing predatory skills. Who would have thought that cute inchworms could be so ferocious? You can see them in action in
this video. More information in
Geojournal
Some predatory and parasitic Lepidoptera present in Bugguide
A member of Papilionoidea:
Feniseca tarquinius Harvester
And possibly another Papilionoidea, mite eater:
Celastrina serotina Cherry Gall Azure
The notorious planthopper parasite moth, the only member of the family Epipyropidae:
Fulgoraecia exigua
Pyralids that feeds on scale insects, genus
Laetilia and
Baphala:
Laetilia coccidivora
Laetilia dilatifasciella
Laetilia zamacrella
Baphala spp. (
ref)
Three species of Cosmopterigidae are internal parasites of scale insects
Euclemensia barksdalensis (no images),
Euclemensia bassettella and
Euclemensia schwarziella
A bagworm, family Psychidae, mostly herbivore; also feeds on mites and scale insects of the host plant
Cryptothelea gloverii
Pinion moths, members of the Noctuidae family, that ordinarily feed on plants but can resort to sawfly larvae and caterpillars, including some of their own siblings:
Lithophane spp
A clothes moth that eats animal products along with wool:
Tineola bisselliella - Webbing Clothes Moth
Two crambids in the genus
Chalcoela
Chalcoela iphitalis - Sooty-winged Chalcoela
Chalcoela pegasalis - Pegasus Chalcoela
Members of family Erebidae with barbed proboscis, can feed on the blood of large animals, including humans!
Calyptra - Vampire Moths
The following are known to resort to cannibalism under certain circumstances:
1. Several Noctuids:
Helicoverpa zea - Corn Earworm Moth (
ref)
Heliothis (
ref)
Spodoptera frugiperda - Fall Armyworm Moth
Mamestra
2. A few tiger moths, family Erebidae:
Estigmene acrea - Salt Marsh Moth
Pyrrharctia isabella (Isia) - Isabella Tiger Moth
Utetheisa ornatrix - Rattlebox Moth
Update, 8/31/2017
In Hawaii, there is a species that feeds on snails,
Hyposmocoma molluscivora, according to Daniel Rubinoff, William P. Haines. Web-Spinning Caterpillar Stalks Snails. Science, 2005. It uses its silk to bundle the snail.
Update, 1/7/2019
A Palaearctic noctuid
Eupsilia transversa (satellite moth) has been reported to eat other larvae occasionally.
Wikipedia
There may be others that I will be happy to add later.
