one day old Dasypodia caterpillar

To my surprise the eggs from my previous post have already transformed into caterpillars, about 2mm long. They are supposed to eat acacia leaves, some species at least...So, I went to my garden and picked some leaves from in total 6 different species of acacias that I have in my garden. It seems to be a success, they do eat some of them at least, as evidenced by a little hole eaten in the leaf shown in the photo below (click on it to enlarge)...

The case of Private Pancake = caterpillar feeding on grass...

Recently I have been showing translucent green caterpillars feeding on eucalyptus leaves; but I have also spotted a different green larva feeding simply on grass leaves. I have observed that not only it feeds on grass but it also hides in the blades of grass, by which I mean it rolls itself into a single blade of grass (rolled lengthwise around his body). One can see some white silk thread that he used as a "glue" for rolling/wrapping the blade of grass around his body (click on photo to see details). I decided to call him Private Pancake because he reminds me of soldiers dressed in green uniforms (the grass) and a simple elongated shape of the rolled pancake...
How about edible uniforms for soldiers, inspired by this guy?...

Houdini 2

As I have explained before, Houdini has disappeared, maybe he is underground, who knows?

So, today I have started afresh with "Houdini 2". Will observe him much more closely this time and will report!
(Click on photo to see enlarged.)

translucent caterpillar feeding on eucalyptus

Here it is, one of my latest caterpillars; I have no idea what will grow out of it...
It is feeding on eucalyptus leaves. Looks a bit translucent...
I have called it Haudini, because he disappeared recently, like that famous circus magician, not sure whether he went underground or what...

new kids on the block

About one week ago I had a visitor, so called Magpie moth (Nyctemera) , it is called "magpie" because of black and white wings, here is her photo showing the characteristic top view. This type of moths are also called "tiger moths" because their abdomen often has black and yellow stripes; they mimic stripy wasps trying to scare (and warn) whoever would be tempted to eat them. Picture showing the strips on abdomen is the second one below.

The moth was a female and has left a few eggs on the twig it was sitting on, each egg smaller than 1mm.... 

And today several hairy caterpillars all emerged from the eggs. They are now about 2 mm long and very hairy. They feed on Senecio. (Photo of the caterpillar below was taken against the backdrop of a blue plastic box.)

The bristles are long. (In general one should avoid contact with hairy caterpillars as some species can cause severe itching, even can sting and/or cause blindness. Maybe this particular species is not dangerous, but you never know for sure...)  

Interesting thing about tiger moths is that they can produce sounds (but in frequency range beyond human hearing abilities). Perhaps such sounds serve to confuse bats or discourage bats from eating tiger moths as they are not tasty anyway.

one day later

His Greenness looks somewhat pale today, perhaps changed his color a bit towards whitish-yellow, and he is not moving anymore...

He looks very peaceful, like an angel sleeping on a pillow made out of clouds...
I am not so sure anymore, is he a common pest? and so angelical at the same time?...
And if he turns out to be a common pest what will I do with him?
Is he going to be a night moth perhaps?
Still a few days to think about it...

The Emperor's new exquisite clothing, made out of fine 100% organic silk

His majesty Greenness has got a new robe, made out of white silk, I have found it this morning, how do you like it...?  (Click on the image below to see very intricate details.)
He is still weaving it, so the robe is not finished yet, will post more pictures showing his progress...

Inspecting the crime scene...

The remnant of the pupa:

Please note that instead of the long crack along the axis (which would be typical if the moth has emerged normally) there is a top part of pupa missing, presumably the culprit wasp emerges from the top part and not sideways like the moth would...

parasitoid wasp?

About 1 month ago or so I have found a small pupa hanging on a silk thread in my garden under the rim of a plastic gardening pot. I assumed it belongs to some lepidoptera...

But what has emerged from it today was not a butterfly nor a moth, to my great surprise....
It is a wasp (Ichneumon wasp), I assume it simply/gradually ate all the pupa except it's "shell" and then emerged as an adult ("hiperactive") wasp! (Call Crime Scene Investigators now...)

side view

And one more shot; his/or her? Majesty Greenness...

A very hungry caterpillar indeed, eating healthy stuff all the time...

green larva eating parsley leaves

Discovered today. Will observe. Probably a pest moth...