Unknown caterpillar
Can anyone please identify this pillar I found on my nettle plant. It’s not like my fluffy Admiral pillars. I would like to know if it is good or bad. Cheers Margie
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3 Responses to “Unknown caterpillar”
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May 21st, 2008 at 9:20 am
Hello Margie
Good or bad… for what? Everything is part of Nature, there is no “good” or “bad” in that sense. We have been conditioned to think that the white butterfly is “bad”, because the larvae eat the same food that we eat, but the butterfly is very beautiful, so I am trying to retrain my brain to appreciate things like ants and rats, and see what place they actually play in our natural world.
Off soapbox now, I didn’t appreciate the rat that ran up and down my roof at 5am today - I will have to rethink that one!
I will forward this link on to someone who knows much more about caterpillars than me and get it identified for you.
Jacqui
May 21st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Good or bad for the admirals I wasn’t sure if it would hatch into something that would attack the admiral pillars or monarch pillars. Thanyou for your comments and passing on the link Jacqui
Margie
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Remember this one Jacqui? Is the same caterpillar that turned up on my pittosporum, beside my Yellow Admirals. I have another one now too. I have groundsel for my Magpie Moths, and the blurb said it likes chickweed so am guessing that’s how I got it.
It is a: Graphania ustistriga (Walker).
“The white spots,the pallid venter, and the dorsal/subdorsal pattern are
diagnostic. It can be very common and once defoliated a caged apple tree
(full-sized). It likes chickweed (Stellaria) but not enough in my
jaundiced view.”