OK, just a quick followup on our friendly caterpillar. Come to find out, from Vermont's state entomologist, this is a Cecropia caterpillar, probably in its final molt.They are the product of the largest moth native to this part of the planet, a critter that spends most of its life as a many-legged worm munching on plant life instead of a two-winged beauty.
When newly hatched, the Cecropia caterpillar is dark brown and small. On each successive molt, they turn greener and the spiky lightbulbs they sport grow more colorful. It's a lot like pulling away from the crowd mentality that's endemic among teenagers where everyone struggles to look like everyone else (and fails utterly) to grow old enough to feel comfortable sporting your most outrageous costumes at a meeting of the Red Hat Society.
Of course, no surprise here, the Cecropia moths and their caterpillar progeny are endangered because of what we are doing to Lady Nature. (Can we say insecticides boys and girls? Sure you can.)
We're continuing to feed our Cecropia and will make sure it's in a safe place to overwinter until the moth emerges for about a week sometime between May and July of next year. The moths don't eat so they don't last any longer than it takes to have sex and die.
Fascinating, eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment