Friday 23 July 2010

Vapourer on the wardrobe


It’s been a frustrating week as an old knee injury flared up last weekend which prevented me from getting out during the continuing good weather. Yesterday evening I was rewarded with a sighting of a very unusual caterpillar climbing up a wardrobe door. 
It has a pair of hair tufts at the front, two protruding from the sides, one black, one white and one at the rear. The hairs or setae are coated with toxins not to allow contact with skin.
Having identified it as a Vapourer Moth larva whose food is the leaves of any deciduous tree or bush, I found some willow branches and a large container. This morning it was busily chewing its way through a leaf, so I assume it approves of its new luxury apartment. The adult is a distinctive moth so I hope to see it through some of its life cycle. How it found its way into the flat is a mystery.

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