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Fuzzy babies
Lots of fuzzy baby caterpillars here in the lab. Right now these two species look pretty similar, but the differences will start accumulating in the next few instars. Currently they are less than a week old. The first two photos are the babies from this post!
Acronicta hastulifera, second instar
Acronicta hastulifera, second instars
Acronicta americana, second instars (and molting into third)
Babies everywhere
300. That is how many little Acronicta hastulifera caterpillars hatched this weekend (click here to see the mother). Actually, there were probably more than 300, but I stopped counting.
Developing eggs, two days before hatching.
Lots of little first instars.
As you can see by the giant holes in some eggs, many of them ate their egg-shells before wandering off.
Babies on their host plant, alder (Alnus). Exploring a bit before settling down to eat.
The big hatching event happened on Sunday. It’s a good thing I came into the lab, because by Monday they would have been dead without food. I then became incredibly nervous that I might not have given them the right host plant, but they have been producing a large amount of frass (poop). Hurray! I get so protective of my caterpillar babies. This is what they look like today:
Frass machines.
They are going to become wonderfully fuzzy caterpillars as they grow. I can’t wait!
Green and orange and purple
Here are some more fun photos of Acronicta lepetita from Texas. Some of them turn orange during their final instar, some stay green, some even turn purple-ish. Luckily this species is quite sedentary, so it is relatively easy to photograph. This first shot is one of my favorites:
Smile!
Orange and green siblings.
This one was not interested in being a model, it just wanted to continue nibbling the leaf edge.
Many caterpillars are known to turn purple-ish, red-ish, or pink-ish just before pupation. However this orange color change happens while the caterpillar is still feeding, sometimes up to a week before pupation. It happens in Acronicta vinnula as well. I wonder why a caterpillar would want to be orange while still feeding on green vegetation?
