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Its consumption of toxic plants makes it distasteful to most predators. An exception is the smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani), which tears the caterpillar apart to eat it, avoiding the gut containing the plant material. The caterpillar is also coated in barbed urticating hairs, which stick deeply in skin and cause irritation. If caught, the ...
Plants contain toxins which protect them from herbivores, but some caterpillars have evolved countermeasures which enable them to eat the leaves of such toxic plants. In addition to being unaffected by the poison, the caterpillars sequester it in their body, making them highly toxic to predators.
Certain caterpillars eat plants that are toxic to both themselves and the parasite to cure themselves. [24] Drosophila melanogaster larvae also self-medicate with ethanol to treat parasitism. [25] D. melanogaster females lay their eggs in food containing toxic amounts of alcohol if they detect parasitoid wasps nearby. The alcohol protects them ...
Herbivory: Caterpillars of most Noctuidae feed on plants; some feed on poisonous plants and are unaffected by their chemical defences; for example, the splendid brocade moth (Lacanobia splendens) feeds on cowbane (Cicuta virosa), a plant that is notoriously toxic to vertebrates. [19]
Cutworms are moth larvae that hide under litter or soil during the day, coming out in the dark to feed on plants. A larva typically attacks the first part of the plant it encounters, namely the stem, often of a seedling, and consequently cuts it down; hence the name cutworm. Cutworms are not worms, biologically speaking, but caterpillars.
The white maguey worms, known as meocuiles, are caterpillars of a butterfly commonly named "tequila giant skipper," Aegiale hesperiaris. [4] [unreliable source?Aegiale hesperiaris is found usually in regions of Central Mexico, on the leaves of Agavaceae plants, such as Agave tequilana and Agave americana (maguey).
The tree in which a female deposits the eggs is where the larvae will choose to feed. The most common host plants that caterpillars feed on are leaves from stonefruit trees. However, larvae will feed on many other types of tree foliage. Adult moths do not eat and live for 1–4 days. [7]
The larval stage of C. catalpae is known as the catalpa or catawba worm. When first hatching, the larvae are very pale, but become darker toward the last instars.The yellow caterpillars will usually have a dark, black stripe down their back along with black dots along their sides.