Tumgik
#caster oil looper
rattyexplores · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Caterpillars have a few methods of self defense, depending on the family or species. One technique most caterpillars I find use, is regurgitation.
The caterpillar creates a ball of regurgitated foodplant from its mouth, then spits it out onto the attacker. From my knowledge, this attack is harmless to humans. It seems to be used to either startle, or disgust any predator looking for a meal.
41 notes · View notes
rattyexplores · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
My Mum wasn’t very happy about me turning her Euphorbia into a buffet, but sadly I don’t have the money or resources to have my own caterpillar nursery 😔
I kept a few of the caterpillars in jars, and my Mum collected the rest, and put them downstairs (where they probably went into the garden behind us LOL).
Raising caterpillars is hard, when you haven’t got the money for foodplants...
{ ✥ }
9 notes · View notes
rattyexplores · 4 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Some footage of caterpillar movement ♥ I love how cute and chubby caterpillar legs are.
✤ Achaea janata - (Caster oil / Croton looper)
85 notes · View notes
rattyexplores · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Enjoying some sun ♥
{ ✥ }
35 notes · View notes
rattyexplores · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Barasa cymatistis “Small Grey Moth”
This bizarre caterpillar is very familar to me ♥ I would frequently find them on the Brush Box near the chicken coop. Their appearance has baffled me for a long time. They look nothing like a caterpillar! And for a while, I had no idea what the species could even be. Really, I discovered their species by accident, while browsing Brisbane Insects.
I would often find this caterpillar sitting motionless on the underside of leaves, usually bent to the side, a third of the way down the body (like the images above). When the caterpillar starts to move, it would slowly move its head side to side. Considering the hairs are mostly on the side of the caterpillar’s body, I think it does this to warn off predators.
The caterpillar is usually a bright fluorescent orange, in my eyes, the most iconic form of the species. However the caterpillar can also be a purply black colour. I’m unsure as to why this is the case, but perhaps the caterpillar turns dark purple after a good meal. I’ve seen caster oil loopers turn pink after eating flowers, and many other caterpillars (mostly moths) do the same.
The colour change could also be down to genetics, sometimes caterpillars and moths have slight variations in colour and patterning. The caterpillars at my house are often dark in colour, while the caterpillars at the Nursery I work at are generally bright orange.
You can see the caterpillar’s underside here. Don’t repeat the mistake I made, holding hairy caterpillars is not healthy...
The caterpillar is NOT SAFE TO TOUCH, those hairs will cause terrible irritation.
Species index
2 notes · View notes
rattyexplores · 4 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Strike a pose little looper!
When I first took him off the leaf, he was still playing stick. His body was stiff, and only when I started taking pictures, he moved. He probably new the jig was up.
CORRECTION
I accidentally mistook this for the caster oil looper. This is more likely to be Ectropis excursaria or the Twig Looper or Common Bark Moth.
I should’ve known better... I think at the time I didn’t know the difference between loopers and inchworms. loopers, generally speaking, don’t have only two pairs of prolegs.
9 notes · View notes
rattyexplores · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
𝑼𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 / 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒐 𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒂
Closest species, “Avatha subumbra”
First seeing this moth, I immediately recognized its body shape. A while back my Mum’s pot plant (Unidentified plant) was swarming with little Caster Oil loopers! I kept a few (I’ll find the images somewhere), and the adult moth was huge! Having a wingspan of 6CM! (Well, I suppose that is still very small, I’m just used to teeny tiny moths)
These are “Underwing moths” (Catocala). Not all underwings are massive, some species do look a lot smaller, however they generally have the same body shape; a wide triangle. Underwing moths also beautiful patterns on their underwings, hence the name, although this particular species has nothing more than dull browns... There are underwings with dull browns though! Like the “Closest species” listed above.
Underwings are apart of the Erebidae family, Superfamily Noctuoidea.
20/12/20, source - RatteJak
2 notes · View notes
rattyexplores · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
✥ Achaea janata, “Caster Oil Looper” / “Croton Caterpillar”
——————————————————————————————————–
Personal Observations Firstly, the caterpillar’s colours vary drastically with each instar and specimen. I at first noticed that final instars became a dull brown with wood-like patterns, however I’ve found specimens that maintain bright colours in their final instars as well. There doesn’t seem to be any order to the colours the caterpillars became, aside from genetics.
A list of colours and variants I’ve found:
White/Light grey with a dark head and legs, and spots running horizontally down the back
Fully beige with wood-like patterning 
Fully dark brown/Reddish brown with wood-like patterning
Fully Grey/Blueish black with clear white patterning on the face
Black, or Reddish black with bright red/orange patterns running down the side
The caterpillar will always have a line (made up of 4 dots) separating the thorax from the rest of the body.
The caterpillars would often feed in broad day light, and would position themselves in a way that would camouflage their bodies, as they ate. When threatened, the caterpillars would curl their heads under their bodies, and regurgitate their food onto their attacker.
The caterpillars would grow quite large, with final instars almost being the length of my index finger.
——————————————————————————————————–
Taxonomy Lepidoptera - Noctuoidea - Erebidae - Calpine - Achaea
Known Foodplants Euphorbia (what my specimens were raised on), Codiaeum variegatum “Croton”, Morinda citrifolia “Noni”, Nephelium lappaceum “Rambutan”, Ricinus communis “Caster oil plants”, Tamarindus indica “Tamarind”, Avicennia marina “Grey Mangrove”, Bauhinia species “Orchid trees”, Aeonium canariense “Green rose”, Glycine max “Soybeans”, Gossypium hirsutum “Cotton”, Acacia species “Wattles”, Eucalyptus species “Gumtrees”, Emex australis “Three-corner Jack”, Macadamia integrifolia “Macadamia Nuts”, Rosa odorata “Roses”, Litchi chinensis “Lychee”, Tribulus species “Puncture Vine”
Known Territories Borneo, Cook Islands, Hawaii, Japan, New Guinea, Taiwan, New Zealand, Seychelles, Australia
( Source ) this website has done more work in preserveing Lepidoptera information than I could ever dream of doing myself. Do support them ♥
——————————————————————————————————–
Last edited 14/04/21
30 notes · View notes