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Field Notes

Description:

A Caterpillar tending some tiny cocoons?
Its translucent green about an inch long.

Habitat:

Found underneath a Cosmos flower leaf.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (7)

Imagine, quite distant places, same things are happening. Wonders of nature.
Hey Shekai, yours definitely looks the same as mine, it even looks like the same type of caterpillar. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/20986064 Andrea Lim has one too: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/20835134
I think bayucca is right then - this caterpillar is really just food now
Its been two days that I'm observing the caterpillar - its not moving. The cocoon were still intact, I checked it with a magnifying lens.
Was this "caterpillar" still moving when you found it? My story might still be right, but some things might be strange: the cocoons look like not being attached to the caterpillar. Is it really a moth or butterfly caterpillar? If the black spots on the caty are where the cocoons were attached, where are the wasp larvae? The caty is crawling over the cocoons? Is another "healthy" caty feeding the remnants of the cocoons (with the dead caterpillar falling on the ground and the wasp larvae gone away). OK, the last story is a little bit out of the fantasy... Does anybody has some IDeas??
I think it will take a bad end for the caterpillar. It looks that these white cocoons are from parasiting wasps. They will eat the caterpillar without killing it as long as possible, but after emerging of the wasp larvae the caterpillar will usually die shortly afterwards.
Photographed
PublishedFebruary 22, 2013

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