Saddleback Caterpillar Walkabout at The Caterpillar Lab скачать в хорошем качестве

Saddleback Caterpillar Walkabout at The Caterpillar Lab

Introducing North America's largest slug caterpillar, the Saddleback - Acharia stimulea. It is hard to leave "Slug Caterpillar Appreciation Week" behind when there are just so many fantastic and unusual species to tell you about. My first experience with the saddleback came from exploring my neighbors backyard in a Boston Massachusetts suburb as a child. This... thing... was resting on the underside of a buckthorn leaf, bright green and brown, bulbous, with an apparent face made from fleshy antlers and two white spots. I had never seen any slug caterpillar before so I had no reference for what I was looking at. I can remember thinking as I carried the saddleback home on my hand that it resembled a little dog wearing a green sweater. Exploring the identity of this first slug caterpillar find introduced me to just how diverse and otherworldly insects are... it was another moment that fueled my passion for these creatures and a desire to get back out there to discover what else might be hiding among the leaves. I know now that saddlebacks are venomous and can sting. I was lucky not have been stung while carrying my first one home. The saddleback is a species that we definitely do not recommend being too careless around and many of you reading this may well have stories to tell of encounters with saddlebacks that left more painful, rather than wondrous, impressions. Still, they are nothing to fear if we are careful and aware of our environment. Certainly, once we actually see a saddleback caterpillar we can easily keep ourselves out of harms way. I personally find it quite impressive that such a little creature packs such a big punch - they are worthy of our respect and admiration. Please take a moment to consider them in this new light as you respond here. Saddleback caterpillars eventually spin a small, dark, rounded cocoon. They pupate inside, overwinter, and then emerge as the saddleback caterpillar moth the following summer. The moth is glossy brown-black with subtle textural markings and large hairy legs. The caterpillars may reach just over an inch in length and feed on many different plants, really anything that has a smooth enough leaf for them to crawl across. They have an impressive host plant list ranging from corn to oak and even many undesirable invasive plants like buckthorn and european bittersweet. They live across Eastern North America making it just as far north as Southern New England. They are actually rather scarce in New England, and my find as a child near Boston was really something special. Their sting is powerful and can be painful, but is generally not cause for alarm. However, some people may be more sensitive to them or have allergic reactions so a sting should be watched carefully (as is the case with any kind of sting, allergy, etc.). Believe it or not, most people don't know that the surprising slug caterpillars of the family Limacodidae even exist, and that they are backyard caterpillars the world around! I hope you will all share this video (and videos to come) widely so we can make this week "Slug Caterpillar Awareness Week"... or month... The Caterpillar Lab www.thecaterpillarlab.org www.facebook.com/thecaterpillarlab (c) Sam Jaffe