1 caterpillar 1 larva for ID

Anzu · #1 (**permalink**) 31-10-2011, 10:22 AM

Good day folks!

I might be wrong about the first being a caterpillar? I'm not sure, but anyway. Both found in my Norfolk garden.

1: Found in my Thyme about 10mm in length.

2: Found crawling up my fence slightly longer then #1 about 13mm.

Thank you for looking!

Dogghound · #2 (**permalink**) 31-10-2011, 01:17 PM

I suspect they are both from tortrix moths

Anzu · #3 (**permalink**) 31-10-2011, 02:45 PM

I had a brainwave, there are often a lot of Pyrausta aurata moths on my herbs so I checked what the caterpillar looked like and bingo.

Seems number one is Pyrausta aurata me thinks, still stuck on the second one.

poschiavanus · #4 (**permalink**) 31-10-2011, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anzu

I had a brainwave, there are often a lot of Pyrausta aurata moths on my herbs so I checked what the caterpillar looked like and bingo.

Seems number one is Pyrausta aurata me thinks, still stuck on the second one.

This looks like a good call, although like Dogghound I'd certainly assumed both were tortrix caterpillars. Quite a few of these have very obvious pinancula like No. 1 (the one I commonly come across is the Timothy Tortrix). However, there was something about the shape of this beast which didn't seem quite right : for want of a better way of putting it, it seemed rather fat around the middle for a tortrix.

Lepiforum has a goodly number of image of Pyrausta aurata larvae which look a good match.

Goater says they pupate fully grown in old flower-heads. Another one to search for over the winter!

Anzu · #5 (**permalink**) 01-11-2011, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poschiavanus

This looks like a good call, although like Dogghound I'd certainly assumed both were tortrix caterpillars. Quite a few of these have very obvious pinancula like No. 1 (the one I commonly come across is the Timothy Tortrix). However, there was something about the shape of this beast which didn't seem quite right : for want of a better way of putting it, it seemed rather fat around the middle for a tortrix.

Lepiforum has a goodly number of image of Pyrausta aurata larvae which look a good match.

Goater says they pupate fully grown in old flower-heads. Another one to search for over the winter!

Cool, Thank you for the confirm.