Caterpillar ID help please!

[lisablueeyes]

Hi, this is my 1st time using this site and i have spent quite some time this evening reading previous posts to identify this caterpillar and searching internet but i have had no luck.

I noticed it on my paved driveway and just wondered what type it is?

If any one can help i would be grateful.

Thanks, Lisa

[Dogghound]

Hi Lisa. Do you have a photo of it?

[lisablueeyes]

Hi, thanks for replying... i thought i had added the pictures but it didnt work..







Thanks, Lisa

[Lance Morgan]

Difficult to see as prepupal larvae. Looks like a noctuid moth probably Yellow underwing

[lisablueeyes]

Hi, thanks for that i will go and have a read on them.

Since finding it 2 days ago i have been taking a look in my garden and came across a few other interesting things like a 5mm light green caterpillar in side budding leaves on a tree wrapped in a white silk there are several others like this on the tree any idea what they could be.. i will try and get a photo tomorrow of them.

The other thing i found was 2 ladybirds each is holding on very tightly to a light brown rice shape which is wrapped in silk...
I will also add a pick of these....

Sorry about all the questions i have just become so much more interested in looking closer at nature as i teach my 16 month old little girl about it, we both find it fascinating ..

Lisa

[nutmeg]

I can't help with the caterpillars, but your ladybirds sound like they've been affected by a parasitoid wasp - the larva develops inside and then emerges and pupates under the ladybird, anchoring it in place

[Jenny W]

The caterpillar looks very much like Square Spot Rustic, Xestia xanthographa, but without a better photo it may well not be.

The ladybird parasite is possibly the Braconid wasp Dinocampus coccinellae. Not sure if there are any other species it could be, but someone will be able to tell you.

[lisablueeyes]

Thank you for that, i have just read about it ahh the poor ladybirds...


Perilitus coccinellae (Braconidae: Euphorinae) is a koinobiont parasite, except this is an parthenogenic endoparasitoid of adult ladybird beetles. The wasp stalks a suitable ladybird before thrusting its ovipositor between the host's abdominal plates and laying a single egg inside. When the egg hatches the first job for the larva is to eliminate any competition. It is equipped with large, pointed mandibles and it uses these to stab other parasitoid eggs and larvae. Soon after this is will shed its skin revealing mouthparts suitable for eating the host. During development the larva takes very great care not to eat any of the ladybird's vital organs - in fact it seems to limit itself to the ladybird's fat store and gonads. When it is ready to pupate, it uses its mandibles to cut each of the six motor-neurones that control movement in the ladybird's legs before breaking out of the host's abdomen and spins a cocoon between the host's legs. This may seem strange behaviour but the wasp actually wants the ladybird to stand sentry over the cocoon. The ladybird can't move but it is still alive so the bright warning colours and reflex bleeding that once protected the ladybird from predators will now protect the wasp. Eventually the wasp hatches and flies off to find another ladybird leaving the host to starve.

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After reading that i went and had a closer look and the ladybird was still alive so i brought it indoors and with a small twig and tweezers i carefuly removed
the cocoon and to my suprise the ladybird crawled up the twig it seemed to be able to move all its legs. I do not know if it will be able to fly but i will release it shortly.

[Kayleigh]

This is all fascinating but its making my skin crawl...

[Jenny W]

Perilitus coccinellae = Dinocampus coccinellae, yeah? I'm assuming it's a genus change - sorry for posting the wrong name!