Caterpillar medusa - Nematus latitarsus - BugGuide.Net

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » "Symphyta" - Sawflies, Horntails, and Wood Wasps » Common Sawflies (Tenthredinidae) » Nematinae » Willow Sawflies and allies (Nematini) » Nematus » septentrionalis group (Nematus septentrionalis group) » Dusky Birch Sawfly (Nematus latitarsus)

Photo#51143

Copyright © 2006 Steve Scott

Caterpillar medusa - Nematus latitarsus

Fairfield, Wayne County, Illinois, USA
May 4, 2006

This orgy is also on my River Birch. I'm guessing these are moth caterpillars. Do any butterly species exhibit communal behavior like this?

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Contributed by Steve Scott on 7 May, 2006 - 3:12pm
Last updated 16 July, 2006 - 11:36pm

already id'd

but to answer your question, yes, some butterflies are communal as cats.
Carla Finley
Venice, FL
http://community.webshots.com/user/CarlaFinley

… Carla Finley, 7 May, 2006 - 8:30pm

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Not lepidopters

See how there are seven pairs of prolegs in addition to the three pairs of true legs? Lepidopteran caterpillars have from 2 to 5 pairs of prolegs, so this, among other things, indicates that these caterpillars are sawfly larvae, which are known to be gregarious (see this page for an example of their behavior: http://bugguide.net/node/view/13575/bgimage). However, I don't know anything about sawfly taxonomy, especially of larval specimens, so all I can say is that these are Symphytan hymenopters. My guess would be that they're Tenthredinids, but your guess here is as good as mine.

… Noor Beckwith, 7 May, 2006 - 4:45pm

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I think Noor has nailed this one -

the picture in her link (below) is also of sawflies on birch, and if this posture is indeed distinctive (see discussion on that one) then this could well be the same species.

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 7 May, 2006 - 5:08pm

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Sooo . . .

Another case of raising baby to identify mommy. Thanks for all the input, though. I was way in left field on this one.

… Steve Scott, 8 May, 2006 - 11:51am

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Nice

Thanks for the confirmation. FYI - I'm a guy. Don't worry about it, though; it's a common mistake.

… Noor Beckwith, 7 May, 2006 - 5:32pm

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So sorry, Noor!

I see you have now updated your page to make that abundantly clear :)

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 8 May, 2006 - 6:32am

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