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Mangesh
Small things bright and beautiful
by Mangesh - January 22, 2007 - 10:42 AM

caterpillar.jpgI’m not really into insects, but I found this image at ettf, and was so stunned by the colors that I had to look it up. Apparently, the pic is of a caterpillar cecropia moth. More specifically, this is a cecropia caterpillar in its second stage of shedding. According to wikipedia, the cecropia molts 5 times and is only this beautiful in the second stage of molting–when its drizzled with vivid blue, orange and yellow sprinkles. When it grows older, the caterpillar dulls some, and then emerges into a pretty moth (one of the largest giant silk moths found in North America), but it’s nowhere near as cute as its previous incarnation. Click here to read more on it at wikipedia. Photo via ettf.

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Comments (7)

  1. Cecropias are amazing. I raised a brood of them myself, the summer I was sixteen. By the final instar, they are absolutely enormous. One can hear them chew.

    posted by Coeli on 1-22-2007 at 3:28 pm

  2. Incredible creature! Where did you find them to raise? I have raised luna moth caterpillars which become beautifulmoths, but this looks like a Japanese candy.

    posted by Carla on 1-24-2007 at 10:15 am

  3. I learned of Cecropia Moths when the nature group at a community center I go to decided to raise some. It was facinating! Then a year ago I found one living on the side of my building and got to sit one evening and watch it spin it’s cacoon. Absolutely amazing! Not only can you hear them chew, if you watch closly, you can see the silk spinning out of they’re mouths until the cacoon gets insulated enough to be opaque. I fell in love with these little guys!

    posted by Sarah on 1-24-2007 at 2:23 pm

  4. I don’t give a flip what those other folks say. This thing is seriously lying in wait for someone like me: I’ll be stolling along, chillaxing and whistling a tune, and I look down and notice some floor-Skittles! Lucky Day! I’d krunch on a “Skittle” and instead, some caterpiller juice would squirt out. I’d promptly die from absolute fright.

    posted by Amanda on 1-25-2007 at 4:14 pm

  5. I NOTICED SEVERAL OF YOU GUYS STATE THAT THE CATEPILLAR AFTER TURNING INTO A MOTH GETS VERY LARGE. HOW BIG IS LARGE?
    BY THE WAY, I’M A 42 YR OLD CECROPIA, WOULD YOU GO OUT WITH ME?

    posted by JOHN BROWN on 1-30-2007 at 11:20 am

  6. hey John: It’s about 5-6 inches long as a caterpillar, and a 75 mm wingspan as an adult accoding to Wikipedia.

    posted by Mangesh on 2-18-2007 at 5:31 pm

  7. FUNKY! THANKS FOR THE INFO MANGESH

    posted by JOHN BROWN on 2-23-2007 at 10:38 am

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