Caterpillar ID needed! Help!

dracapalley · #1 (**permalink**) 04-12-2008, 11:43 PM

Hi,
I was recommended this site from a member of another wildlife/gardening website as no one there could really help.
I have a caterpillar that was found in amongst some roses that were grown and imported from Kenya. It eats roses. Some people say it looks like a hawk moth, but none of the pictures I've seen of those seem to match, as the black markings on the one I have here are at its tail end, not at its head, which seems to be the markings of the hawk moth. See link:

caterpillar+001.jpg (image)

If anyone can help me I'd be very grateful, and also does anyone know if this is British or has indeed come from Kenya and is an African species?

Thanks a lot.

Jason Green · #2 (**permalink**) 05-12-2008, 12:24 AM

Hi DP

It's definately a hawk-moth...

Lepidoptera > Sphingidae > Hawkmoth sp.

...but I can't help more on ID, someone else will soon

Only thing, if it is African, it may not survive here with it being wintery, etc. Just hope it keeps warm!!

Take care,

Jason

aeshna5 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-12-2008, 04:26 AM

I don't know what it is, but doesn't look like a hawk moth to me, more like a noctuid?

Dogghound · #4 (**permalink**) 05-12-2008, 09:09 AM

Its British. Its the Double Square-spot Xestia triangulum. As Aeshna says its a noctuid not a hawk moth.

dracapalley · #5 (**permalink**) 05-12-2008, 11:10 AM

Hello,
Thank you very much for your time on this. I think you're probably right about it being Xestia triangulum, I found one picture on google and although a bit blurred, it probably looks closest to the one I have.
We have it inside at the moment, munching away on roses. Thoughts were to keep it and let it hatch, but if it's british is this the normal time of year for it anyway? Should the caterpillar be outside now? And once a moth, would it survive outside?

Sorry, I know very little about moths.

Many thanks for any help.

Dogghound · #6 (**permalink**) 05-12-2008, 11:50 AM

This species overwinters as a half grown larvae, which is the stage this one is at (It may look alittle different to some images due to them showing fully developed larvae). Its fine outside just put it into some cover. It will stay in this stage until the spring when it will be fully developed then it will pupate late spring and emerge around may. This larvae is polyphagous (eats a wide range of plants) so try and put it near some native plant species.

dracapalley · #7 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 10:38 AM

Thanks again for your message Dogghound. Please could I just clarify something with you... you said it would be fine outside now but just put it in some cover. Do you mean cover to be something like long grass or a bush or do you mean that I should give it a make shift shelter such as a container? I'm guessing that by keeping it in the house and in the warm, I am speeding up the cycle?
One thing to mention though... when it was originally found to fall off the Kenyan roses, someone put it straight outside and it was my bright idea (?!) to bring it in to see it. After having been outside for only a few minutes in the cold, it was looking almost dead and it took hours for it to come around in the house and move. Are you sure that by putting it outside it won't just die instantly? Thanks.

Dogghound · #8 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 05:55 PM

Yes your speeding up the cycle with it indoors, yes a shrub, hedgerow etc would be best. During the winter caterpillars are very sluggish as you would expect due to the weather. When we have warm spells they become more active. So the reason it was slow is due to it being cold resulting in a slowed down metabolism. As long as it shelters in a frost free environment such as inside a dense hedge etc, it will be fine.

dracapalley · #9 (**permalink**) 06-12-2008, 10:26 PM

Thank you Dogghound; just one last quick question please if you don't mind. In the container it's in, the rose it had to eat was kept alive from having its stem stuck in a piece of that green water-absorbing Oasis stuff. Today the caterpillar has some how got inside it... probably eaten its way in? I hope that won't kill it. Anyway, it's curled up inside the green block and I'm not sure whether to put it outside as it is or to prize it out of the little shelter it's made. I'm worried that as the material dries it might get stuck in there?