This one was sent to me by Jennifer Moore, a naturalist at Ijams Nature Center. It falls under the category, the closer you look at nature, the more fascinating it becomes.
Jennifer writes:
“I remember playing hide-and-seek as a child—mainly because I was always one of the first people found. My brother, on the other hand, had an uncanny knack for hiding amongst the flotsam and jetsam of the small natural area where we played. I think Chad might be impressed with this little caterpillar that exhibits the same propensity for blending in.
“This master camouflage artist is a white-lined emerald caterpillar. They are most often found on flowers in the aster/daisy family and they actually attach flower debris to their backs in an effort to hide from potential predators. It’s a good strategy because I would have never noticed this little inchworm except for the fact that I happened to notice that the center of the black-eyed Susan appeared to be moving. As anyone will tell you, movement is a sure way to be found during hide-and-seek.”
Jennifer then moved the caterpillar—flower and all—indoors to study its behavior more closely. She concludes:
“After munching contentedly for days on fresh flowers that I placed dutifully in the terrarium, the caterpillar has now pupated. Continuing with its camouflage skills, the caterpillar shredded leaf parts and attached them to the outside of its chrysalis. At this point, I’ve been ‘it’ for almost a week, searching and trying to find the well-hidden critter in my terrarium. I’m anxiously awaiting emergence of the adult because I think it should now be ‘it.’”
Thanks, Jennifer.
- Photos taken by Jennifer Moore at Ijams Nature Center
6 comments:
Thanks, as entertaining and informative as always. makes one wonder how they develop such behaviour.
Yes. I suspect it was a slow process, but perhaps there was once a very shy one that wanted to hide.
Its strategy worked so well, it lived to produce many offspring that did the same. And so on, and so on.
Fascinating.
That's amazing, Lyn. How does the caterpillar attach the vegetation to itself? I wonder if it has glands which secrete something sticky for the purpose, or perhaps chooses sticky vegetation?
Great question, Rob. If I may be so bold as to post on Lyn's blog...
There is some information on the "what" of this phenomenon, but not much on the "how." I did, however, find a credible story on the Nature Conservancy website that credits "sticky spit" as the adhesive. I think that what the reference lacks in elegance, it makes up for in succinct clarity. :)
For the complete story on the Nature Conservancy website, go here.
Interesting!! Like Rambling Rob, I was puzzled as to how the caterpillar stuck all that to it's back. So the answer is sticky spit. It certainly works!
I've never seen a caterpillar do this, but then again, I've probably passed quite a few and never noticed.
Yes. Sticky spit. Chimney swifts also hold their nests together with it.
Like Jennifer infers, there's a lot to notice, if you just take the time to do it.
Post a Comment