{"id":42,"date":"2015-09-25T17:31:20","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T17:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2017-10-27T17:50:22","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T17:50:22","slug":"crypsis-at-its-finest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/2015\/09\/25\/crypsis-at-its-finest\/","title":{"rendered":"Crypsis At Its Finest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many arthropods are masters of crypsis, either being camouflaged so well that they\u2019re almost impossible to see, or being such good mimics of other organisms that they are very difficult to tell apart.<\/p>\n

Today, I want to share some neat info about a moth larva that does a bit of both.<\/span><\/p>\n

In specific, slightly more than four years ago, I walked out onto our deck to discover this large “inchworm,” i.e., the larva of a geometrid moth (also commonly called spanworms, geometers, cankerworms, or loopers) on the gate:<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I don\u2019t have any idea what species this is. \u00a0I didn\u2019t kill the larva, so I really didn\u2019t (don\u2019t) have any way to determine it, so we\u2019ll just be happy calling it a geometrid\u00a0(that means it’s in the family Geometridae).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_8413\"<\/p>\n

Anyway, pretty clearly it\u2019s camouflaged really well to look like a twig; you can imagine that if this caterpillar had been holding onto a branch with its prolegs (the fleshy, false \u201clegs\u201d on the rear segments of most caterpillars) instead of a red-stained gate, I probably wouldn\u2019t have seen it.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hanging belly up so at the right end you can see where its six true (jointed) legs pointed are tucked in and pointed skyward.<\/span><\/p>\n

So score a very strong point for camouflage.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this beastie isn\u2019t done–it turned out also to be mimicking a small snake.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we look at this critter head-on in this upside down shot you can see the faint Y mark of the head’s frontal sutures. \u00a0This would be its \u201cface\u201d…if caterpillars had faces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"head_legs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As caterpillars are larval insects, they have six true legs, one pair on each segment of the thorax. The way this caterpillar is hanging, you can see four of them partially: just to the right of the head is the very tip of the leg on its 1st thoracic segment, behind that a bit more of the leg on the 2nd thoracic segment, and then much more clearly both legs on the 3rd thoracic segment, which–perhaps significantly–resemble the forcipules (\u201cpoison claws\u201d) \u00a0of centipedes. (Click on photo to enlarge<\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can also see on the large, 2nd thoracic segment an obvious pair of eye spots. \u00a0Remember, the head is that little thing with the Y. \u00a0Those dark spots that look to be eyes are primarily on the 1st and 2rd thoracic segments, far from the head. \u00a0Let\u2019s turn that photo over and mark it up:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"eyespots\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All of a sudden, we have the face of a snake.\u00a0(Click on photo to enlarge<\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But coolest of all, this \u201csnake\u201d defends itself by striking! \u00a0Check out this video; watch what happens when I touch the prolegs. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/geometrid_larva_striking.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Despite the fact that this caterpillar is<\/span> absolutely, completely, utterly, totally harmless, when it first \u201cstruck\u201d at me, I reflexively pulled my hand away! (Sorry for the out-of-focus video–it was impossible to see what I was getting…)<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I ask you: \u00a0How can anyone see stuff like this and not just love insects?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many arthropods are masters of crypsis, either being camouflaged so well that they\u2019re almost impossible to see, or being such good mimics of other organisms that they are very difficult to tell apart. Today, I want to share some neat … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97,"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeppmusic.com\/Arthroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}