News That Stays News

An excellent caterpillar July 18, 2016

Last Thursday, I spotted this on a leaf:

When I was showing the photo to everyone back at the station, everyone thought it looked so cool that I agreed to collect it and rear it, even though it has nothing to do with my project. (We’ll release it when it turns into a moth.) It was also an opportunity to take more photos.

If you’re trying to figure how on earth this is actually a caterpillar, a side view might help:

This caterpillar belongs to a family of caterpillars (the Limacodidae) that are commonly called “slug caterpillars” because their abdomens are flat and sticky, rather than having little mini-legs like most caterpillars. They also tend to either be very hairy, like this one, or smooth and featureless. On a lot of species, the hairs sting like nettles, but this caterpillar’s hairs are very soft and don’t sting, for which I am appropriately grateful.

The species is Phobetron hipparchia.