Grey dagger (Acronicta psi) | Project Noah

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Photo by Sintija Valucka

Published on Project Noah

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Field Notes

Description:

Very interesting looking caterpillar.

Habitat:

Woodland

Species ID Suggestions

Grey Dagger

Acronicta psi

2

Comments (36)

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Sintija Valucka

That would be really great! :)

FaredinAliyevski

Next summer we will solve this mystery, will grow it home :)

Sintija Valucka

I wonder why they need those threads?!... I was trying to find mine who also had moved away, but I couldn't... yes, now we have some knowledge, but they still are very mysterious caterpillars :)

FaredinAliyevski

The last and only news about this caterpillar. The one that looked just like yours with the threads moved away from the leaf but didn't look like it was feeding and the other one had disappeared. On Tuesday I checked and found one that had started to get the white line so at least we learnt that they get the line slowly by age. And then also found in my garden another caterpillar just like this one on a different tree with the threads under it :D

Sintija Valucka

It surelly is!! ;) just weird that before the molting it was standing there doing nothing.. and those weird threads also are confusing... So I have to find the caterpillar! and see if it has the white line :)

FaredinAliyevski

Yes, both yours and mine are just puzzling us. In the noon time the caterpillar was on the threads and later at around 3 p.m. it had moved to the leaf's side. Maybe that's the molting when it gets the line like in my spotting from the last instar.

Sintija Valucka

So this caterpillar is still a mystery! :)

FaredinAliyevski

That could be the case, lets see what mine will do and we will know for sure. But then those comments in the link I posted are not that right even though one of them looked professional since he had even got the wasp.

Sintija Valucka

and half of the leaf was missing, so maybe it ate it and went away :)

Sintija Valucka

wow, interesting, so maybe mine also has simply changed its skin and moved away!!!? :)

FaredinAliyevski

That's weird! My caterpillar has moved away from the threads and moving normal so I'm confused :).

Sintija Valucka

The caterpillar is gone, the thread is still there and then there is something that resembles a skin of a caterpillar. So I guess the caterpillar has been eaten.

Sintija Valucka

So soon it will be out!! And I looked at the wasp, thank you ;) now we have to find the grown-up and take a picture of it! :D :)

FaredinAliyevski

Finally uploaded mine, looks the same :) http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/38310324

FaredinAliyevski

Takes around 20 days to develop and get out of the caterpillar, they eat the inner parts of the caterpillar. The link bellow I posted has a picture of the wasp in the comments. Soon we will become experts on this caterpillar species :). Good next year in that area you will have those larvae again, remember the spot :).

Sintija Valucka

I went to the forest and checked it again, it is still in the place, but those invaders are still in the caterpillar, nothing has come out. But white ones are gone, I found only a fluffy skin of one (only one). But I found in the internet that "They spin cocoons in the soil, duff, or wood where they overwinter as pre-pupae", so I guess that now they are somewhere in the soil ;)

Sintija Valucka

madrigal, it really needs messy hair all around it for protection (though not always they manage to protect...) ;) Faredin, then I have to check those white sawfly caterpillars too!!! Yes, that would be interesting to see, how that white line appears! :) just wondering why they need changes in colour... there must be some kind of a reason.... they loose hair but get white line.. interesting ;) Jemma, thank you! :))

very pretty!!

FaredinAliyevski

Compared to the giant caterpillar I have looks like they have more hair when they are young and then lose it when they are on the last stage. That's what's happening also with the sycamore moth caterpillar I have in my garden. It has lost a lot of hair that it's bare skin is visible. And this one doesn't get more hair than that. It's also interesting to see when do they get the white line above the legs.

you need to comb it's hair.

Sintija Valucka

yes, I definitely have to visit it!!! and how about hair? If this is so young why it has so long hair? :)

FaredinAliyevski

This one is really a young caterpillar because the ones I have in the garden they are just eating meaning they need to grow a lot more to reach the size of my spotting of this species. Maybe you should visit it from time to time to see if there will be a cocoon. I will check it now :)

Sintija Valucka

That really explains many things, when I visited it again, it was in the same position and hadn't moved anywhere (but it wasn't 100% paralyzed), nor it had made any progress with its preparations for winter! Poor caterpillar :'( Thank you!! :) and don't forget to upload some new pictures when you notice some changes! :) (by the way, I have uploaded some more pictures with that white fluffy mushroom ;) )

FaredinAliyevski

Some news, our explanations about the difference between this spotting and mine is totally wrong. Yesterday I found 2 of these in my garden and they are moving and eating without producing any web so I did a short research and what I found was that yours could be infested by a wasp so there should be a larva or an egg inside the caterpillar which then will come out to form the cocoon under the caterpillar using it as a shield. Same parasitic process as in my ladybird spotting. This is a link that has some nice comments: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rock_wolf/9443909836/. This caterpillar is really small and the one I have is really big so makes no sense if this would be the last stage. I will be following the caterpillars in my garden to see how they develop to make sure that at least this explanation is right :).

FaredinAliyevski

See what I found today, still not as good as yours but I did it :), http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/38610039

Sintija Valucka

Thank you! :)) I checked and found out that it is in my university's library :) I will have to take a look at it! :) Sounds like a really great book! :)

FaredinAliyevski

The book is not specific about caterpillars, just has some photos of the main or famous caterpillars. It's called 'Insects of Britain and Northern Europe' by Michael Chinery, 3rd Edition. I had to buy it for my terrestrial field course and it's a perfect one for students. With this book you should be able to identify all the insects you find in your country. In our field course we had to collect everything we find and then identify them without internet, only by this book :).

Sintija Valucka

yes, they are very, very interesting! :)) sometimes even more colorful and interesting than the moth itself :D :) and it really is hard to find the right species, they are so many! Good luck with yours! :)

haha no, I'm not an expert, moth caterpillars are new for me and very interesting, my area are plants and butterflies, I'm just searching id for my unknown caterpillar (no success for days), and like always found id for other unknown spotting :)

Sintija Valucka

Are you, Jopy, a caterpillar expert? :)

Sintija Valucka

what's the title and author(s) of the book? :) I wouldn't mind having a book with pictures of caterpillars :D they're so many and so different :) Thank you, but you have to hurry up with searching, it looks like they're preparing for winter! ;)

great find, I didn't noticed threads! Amazing! haha of course, even it's not blue :D

FaredinAliyevski

Today I was searching through my field guide book for an ID for my caterpillar and I came across this one, thought it looks amazing so I must find one and now I see you have got it, nice job :). And as usual nothing escapes jopy :).

Sintija Valucka

Thanks! ;) The caterpillar was trying to make a cocoon :) (if you take a closer look, you can see small threads on the leave), so it didn't pay much attention to me and I could take as many photos as I wanted :D

you're welcome, very nice photo :D

Sintija Valucka

Jopy, thank you very much! :)

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