Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Plant Identification => Plant Identification Questions and Answers => Topic started by: JohnnyD on July 07, 2012, 04:08:01 PM

Title: Not a plant - but any ideas?
Post by: JohnnyD on July 07, 2012, 04:08:01 PM

This caterpillar has suddenly appeared in some numbers.
I feel I should recognise it - but ............. ???
Any thoughts please.

Title: Re: Not a plant - but any ideas?
Post by: Martinr on July 07, 2012, 04:12:37 PM

I don't know but it may give me nightmares :o

Title: Re: Not a plant - but any ideas?
Post by: ronm on July 07, 2012, 04:21:22 PM

Its the larva of The Vapourer, Orgyia antiqua. Only the males have wings capable of flight. The males are attracted from long distances to the females, who often end up laying their eggs on the outside of the pupal cocoon.

Title: Re: Not a plant - but any ideas?
Post by: Peter Maguire on July 07, 2012, 05:03:19 PM

So that's where my toothbrush went.  ;D

Title: Re: Not a plant - but any ideas?
Post by: JohnnyD on July 07, 2012, 05:11:41 PM

Thanks guys.

I think we need to buy you a new toothbrush Peter. ;D

JohnnyD

Title: Re: Not a plant - but any ideas?
Post by: Lesley Cox on July 09, 2012, 06:10:40 AM

So what is the Vapourer? A moth maybe?

Title: Re: Not a plant - but any ideas?
Post by: ronm on July 09, 2012, 10:20:06 AM

Quote from: Lesley Cox on July 09, 2012, 06:10:40 AM

So what is the Vapourer? A moth maybe?

Correct Lesley, a moth. :)

Title: Re: Not a plant - but any ideas?
Post by: Maggi Young on July 09, 2012, 10:27:39 AM

Wikipedia says :

Quote

The Rusty Tussock Moth or Vapourer, Orgyia antiqua, is a moth in the family Lymantriidae that is native to Europe, but now transcontinental in distribution in the Palaearctic and the Nearctic regions. The orange-brown male flies mostly during the day, but the female is flightless, spending her brief life attached to her cocoon. The hairy caterpillar is spectacular, with "humps", "horns" and a "tail" in a combination of dark grey, red and yellow. It feeds on a wide range of broad-leaved trees and shrubs, and may reach pest proportions in forests and cities.

Here are a couple of links about the critter ....
www.butterfly-conservation.org/uploads/Vapourer.pdf (http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/uploads/Vapourer.pdf)
 
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=2026 (http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=2026)