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Oleander Hawk Moth Caterpillar
Daphnis nerii Sphingidae
22.5791, 88.3698
Field Notes
Description:
At first sight I called it an alien moth because of its large eye like structures on its head and shiny dots bodering it's body. Then I googled about it and came to know about its real name .
Habitat:
On my way to tution class, I found it crawling under a tree at Amherst Street road, kolkata , near the mosque(I didn't take a notice of the tree, extremely sorry for that) . It was doing some weird curve dance with each of my footed steps . I even took a video of that crazy dance😅
Notes:
This moth is commonly known as poison eating moth because it feeds on the leaves of Nerium Oleander, which are toxic to humans and a no. of other animal species. These caterpillars are immune to the toxicity of these leaves.
The one I spotted is at its last stage of Caterpillar before turning to cocoon.
When they are first born , they are a pale blue colour. This slowly changes to green as the larvae age .
The alien like eeric blue eyes aren't actually eyes. These are spots to make it look dangerous to its predators.
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