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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. The chemicals are also carried on into the adult ...
Gonimbrasia belina is a species of emperor moth which is native to the warmer parts of southern Africa.Its large edible caterpillar, known as the mopane worm, madora, amacimbi “pigeon moth”, masonja or Seboko sa Mongana, feeds primarily but not exclusively on mopane tree leaves.
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 ...
The caterpillars feed mostly on acacia (wattle) trees and Grevillea striata (beefwood). If they have totally defoliated their food tree, the caterpillars migrate to seek out another one, leaving a silk trail. When a caterpillar of the species encounters such a trail it will follow it, especially if there is a pheromone scent associated with it ...
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 caterpillars of the gray hairstreak butterfly consume a wide range of food plants. [3] However, they do mainly use mallows and legumes as their preferred host plant. They commonly use clovers as their food plant as well, eating rabbit-foot clover (Trifolium arvense), white clover (T. repens), bush clover (Lespedeza capitata), white sweet-clover (Melilotis alba), and Malva neglecta.
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]