The MGS Forum
Gardening in mediterranean climates => Wildlife in the garden (birds, butterflies, and how to attract them) => Topic started by: Alice on November 03, 2016, 09:11:36 AM
-
Can anyone identify this caterpillar, please? It was found on a carob branch on the pile for shredding. Fully extended it measured about 5 cm. Do I encourage it?
-
Looks like an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar to me but I am sure others will be able to tell you exactly what it is. I don't know exactly what they feed on but the moth is a beautiful moth so I would let it munch away at anything it likes providing it wasn't doing a catastrophic amount of damage.
-
It is an oleander hawk-moth caterpillar, Daphnis nerii. The brown colouration shows that it is getting close to pupating (earlier, it is green; and the last colouration before pupation is darker brown)
Well done for saving it; the adult is a marvel of Mother Nature's artistry.
Mike
-
Thank you Mike and David.
Yes, the oleander hawk moth. The pile for shredding also included oleander branches. It had possibly been looking for a place to pupate and had ended up on the carob. We have seen an enormous impressive moth fluttering around the house on occasion. I am glad it was not the dreaded Paysandisia archon. The caterpillar is now safely back on an oleander bush.
-
Soon it (it is sexless at the moment) will wander down to ground level and find a place among the leaf litter or upper part of the soil in which to pupate. If it was still green when it was doing its wandering amongst the leaves, it would be too obvious; hence the change to brown. Some other hawk-moths show a similar colour change pre-pupation.
Think about pupation for a while. Through what evolutionary process did that arise? Many traits in many organisms arose through slight incremental changes that natural selection favoured. But surely it is not possible to pupate a little and survive! And it seems just as unlikely that a chance mutation (of what progenitor?) resulted in an individual that was completely developed in terms of its metamorphic abilities.
Nature gives us lots to marvel at and ponder.