Bright Line Brown Eye Moth Caterpillar
Very pleased to find this attractive caterpillar on our tomato plant on the allotment today.
It took ages to identify it from the internet when I got home.... Laconobia oleracea..
I was less enamoured with it when I discovered it's other name 'tomato moth'.
Hmm, I wish I hadn't put it back on the leaf where I'd found it!!
This is the closest yet to identifying a caterpillar I found on a towel in the bathroom 27 December 2021. I can't see why a tomato caterpillar would be in there. It was curled up on the towel, about a cm across. When I picked it up it woke up and extended to about 2cm long. I put it on my thumb to get a good look at it and after awhile became aware of a strange sensation. It was chewing the skin of my thumb . By the time I called my husband to look, it had eaten across 3 ridges of my finger print and was going flat out to the full extent of its stretched out neck. This morning the ridges are still clearly damaged. Although it had not drawn blood it has got down to the hollow between the ridges. So what is it? Clearly it's not a vegetarian caterpillar! Overnight I put it in a pot with some nail clippings and a bit of dry skin off my toe (yes, a bit gross but I don't know what it usually eats!) but they are untouched. It must have been desperately hungry! So as I said this is the closest image I have found. It looks like a tiny hawk moth of some kind but without spines hairs or "eyespots". Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteHmmm, no I’m not aware of any carnivorous caterpillars in the UK. You should try posting a photo to the UK butterfly and insect group on Facebook, or some other such group. They’re usually really good at providing an id. I’m sure they’ll be interested to hear of your experience too! I wonder where it appeared from!
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