Friday, June 29, 2007

Vapourer Moth Caterpillar

Very quick post, found a vapourer moth caterpillar in our kitchen last night, dont know if it has any significance but I thought I would post it purely because it was the strangest caterpillar I have ever seen! Definately a stange one to find in your kitchen! Borrowing someone elses photo for anyone who wants a look (we did get some but Lorna had left the tripod on location at a job she has been working on so tricky to focus macro lens close up - not an award winning shot! - this one is much better).

http://homepage.eircom.net/~hedgerow10/sept14.htm

Andrew
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1 comment:

Goldon Gordon said...

Hi Andrew
They are not an uncommon species in Calderdale but are not often reported as adult moths.All this family of moths (Lymantriidae)have spectacular hairy larvae, the larvae of the Pale Tussock is particularly spectacular and was know as the "Hop Dog" in Kent due to it commonly being found on Hops by hop pickers.

The Vapourer females emerge from their cocoons sometime between September & October here. The female simply sits on the cocoon and calls to males using pheromones. Once mated she lays her eggs on the cocoon or very nearby and dies.

Two interesting bird facts to go with this family of moths. 1/ Cuckoos are one of the few birds that will eat the hairy larva, this can be very useful as some of these larvae can reach plague proportions (many of the larvae also have irritating hairs which come loose and can cause breathing difficulties and a skin rash in humans).2/ This family of moths is also one that took part in the famous bird experiment with Robins (?) when the birds where fed the females full of eggs and it was discovered that in many cases the eggs simply passed through the bird unharmed. This was thought to aid in the distribution of the moth (females are flightless and male are poor flyers) to new areas.

7:51 am

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