Caterpillar larva. Land surveyor caterpillars or moths: photo, description of appearance, available types, damage caused and control measures. Musical maestros in the world of insects

A caterpillar is one of the stages of butterfly development.

Before becoming a beautiful butterfly or moth, it is in the larval or caterpillar stage. The life of a caterpillar is very short, but very interesting.

Description, characteristics

A caterpillar is the larva of any insect from the order Lepidoptera. The sizes of the caterpillars are different: it can be from a few millimeters to 15 cm. Touching some of them is life-threatening. They can be poisonous.

The caterpillar's body has a head, thorax and abdomen. There are several pairs of limbs on the chest and abdomen. The whole body has several rings separated by grooves. By pulling up the rings, the caterpillar moves and moves its legs.

The caterpillar breathes through the stigma. There are several of them on the body. The head and chest have a hard shell. The rest of the body is soft and loose. The head is formed from several rings fused together. The shape of the head can be round, rectangular, core. The parietal parts can protrude forward and even form “horns”.

The mouthparts of caterpillars are highly developed. They can chew through any materials and obtain food for themselves using their external jaws. Inside there is an apparatus for chewing food with salivary glands. The eyes have a simple structure. There are several pairs of eyes on the head. Sometimes merged into one large eye. The entire body of the caterpillar is covered with hairs, scales, warts and other projections.

Types of caterpillars

• There are as many species of caterpillars as there are species of butterflies and other lepidoptera.
• Cabbage butterfly caterpillar. It grows up to 3-4 cm. It is yellow-green in color with black spots on the back and long white hairs.
• Surveyor. It looks like a thin brown twig. The limbs are not developed, it moves in “loops”.
• Big harpy. It reaches a size of 6cm and is green in color. There is a purple spot on the back. There is a pink “frame” around the head. The limbs and horns on the body are striped black and white. When defending, it sprays a caustic substance.
• Peacock eyes. Most big representative. Grows up to 12cm. has a bluish-green color. Instead of hairs, there are horn-shaped outgrowths all over the body.
• Dipper caterpillar. It is black and yellow in color and has tufts of hairs.
• Silk caterpillar. Any caterpillar can produce silk, but only the silkworm was domesticated by humans several centuries ago. The caterpillar is called a silkworm. She has color white with many blue warts. At the end of the cycle it changes color to yellow. The caterpillar develops and lives for about a month. While pupating, it spins a cocoon of threads up to 1500 m long. The color can be white, pink, yellow, green. To obtain natural silk, the pupa is kept for a couple of hours at a temperature of 100C. This temperature makes it easier to unwind the cocoon and use silk in production.

Poisonous caterpillars

Coloring allows you to distinguish a poisonous caterpillar from a “peaceful” one. The brighter the color. It is all the more likely that the caterpillar is poisonous. Contact with it for a person can cause teething, redness of the skin, shortness of breath, various pains and develop diseases.

• Coquette caterpillar. Lives in Mexico. Very similar to a hamster. Fluffy brown beauty 2-3cm long. on contact may cause chest pain and shortness of breath.
• Saddle caterpillar. It has bright color: the back is poisonous green and has a large brown spot in the middle. The head and end of the abdomen are brown with thick horns. There are coarse hairs on the body. There is strong poison at the ends of these hairs.
• Lazy cleaver. Lives in Uruguay and Mozambique. The caterpillar is small in length, 3-4 cm. It is black and white in color with green tufts of stiff, milky-green hairs. Its poison can disrupt the nervous system and cause bleeding of internal organs.
• Burning rose. The main color is yellow, with red and blue stripes. Thick horns have spikes with poison. Upon contact, the spines break off and a rash appears on the skin.

Caterpillar development

Its development can last very quickly, or it can drag on for several decades. When hatching from an egg, the caterpillar undergoes several stages. Some of them are accompanied by significant changes, molting and other metamorphoses. The caterpillar itself grows and reaches adult size.

Some species moult several times and change color. This is typical for silkworm caterpillars. At the end of their life period, they look for a place to pupate and prepare their home.

stinging rose caterpillar photo

Caterpillars molt and are characterized by molting. Depending on the species, the caterpillar can molt from 2 to 40 times. Most often, during its life span, the caterpillar molts 4-5 times. The record holder for the number of molts is the moth. She can molt up to 40 times, with females doing this even more often.

The caterpillars that shed the least are miners. Only 2 times. The reasons for molting may be the crowding of an already grown larva in an old body. According to scientists, molting is accompanied by the fact that the respiratory system does not grow with the caterpillar and changes only with new “skin.” The larvae's head contains a pheromone, which sends signals to shed its skin.

Where do caterpillars live?

The limited mobility of the caterpillar does not allow them to move quickly and change their habitat. Most often, caterpillars live on the ground, leaves, and plants. Some species live underwater. Depending on their lifestyle, there are secretive caterpillars and openly moving ones. Hidden species include those that practically do not appear on the surface of the earth, but are located in the bark, underground.

They are divided into the following representatives:

• Leafworms. They live in the leaves of trees, making a tubular house.
• Carpophagous. They live in the fruits of plants and berries.
• Xylophagous. They live inside tree trunks, under the bark.
• Subterranean larvae live underground
• Aquatic caterpillars live in bodies of water.
• Miners. They live in roots, leaves, and buds.
• Future butterflies lead an open lifestyle. They live where they feed: on the leaves of flowers and plants.

What do caterpillars eat?

Most caterpillars are vegetarians. They prefer plant leaves, roots, and flowers. Some make their way to their treats and lay eggs there. These pests include moths. She loves honey. At night, the moth sneaks into the hive and lays eggs in the honeycombs. The hatched larvae eat the wax and honey.

In general, the caterpillar is very voracious. To become a pupa, she must gain mass. The apple moth caterpillar can eat all the leaves on the apple tree and not “get enough.” If there are no other trees nearby, it pupates even when “hungry”.

There are also exotic foods depending on the type:

• Cork moths feed on algae and fungus in wine barrels and beer vats;
• Moth caterpillars live on the sloth's body and eat its algae that grows on its fur;
• Moths eat construction material ants - paper;
• Caterpillars of cutworms and blueberries eat ants, while the ants adore the juice that it produces and live together;
• Predatory caterpillars feed on small insects and other caterpillars.

Fighting caterpillars: means and methods

Caterpillars can harm human crops and devour their lands. To preserve the harvest, some control methods are used. Sometimes he uses everything in turn:

• Collection of caterpillars. Every day, collect colonies of caterpillars, destroy pupae and eggs.
• Chemicals. Industry and botany create various compositions to preserve crops and get rid of unwanted visitors. This method is good at the beginning. Afterwards the caterpillars get used to the drugs.
• In fields and large areas, birds do this job. They love to eat caterpillars. By building birdhouses, you can get rid of non-friends.
• Infusions of herbs and foliage. Tomato tops, tobacco, chamomile, wormwood, herbs, and potatoes have good effectiveness.

• Caterpillars are eaten by humans throughout their existence. More than 20 species of caterpillars are used as food
• Medicinal tinctures are prepared from the pupae of caterpillars of some species.
• The Chinese use caterpillars infected with a special fungus in treatment and Tibetan medicine.
• The caterpillar blends in perfectly with environment
• All caterpillars produce silk during their lives.
• In the Arctic, the caterpillar lives up to 13 years, hibernating before each winter.

The caterpillar takes its place in nature. Her life seems unnoticed and short. But without her we would never see beautiful butterflies. Many species feed on caterpillars, especially birds. The unusual color allows it to camouflage itself or warn the enemy of a threat.

Some people think caterpillars are extremely cute tiny creatures, while others are terrified of them. However, few people know how amazing and beautiful the world of caterpillars really is.

These larvae undergo one of the most incredible transformation processes in the world of wildlife, communicate using the most unexpected body parts and are capable of emitting nicotine fumes!

In our list you will also find details about how caterpillars manage to subjugate ants, move in space, and see a larva that Donald Trump himself copies (Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States).

10. Portable body armor

More recently, in Peru, scientists discovered a new species of caterpillars, which they nicknamed hermit crabs for their habits, which are very reminiscent of the behavior of these arthropod creatures. No one had ever seen simple caterpillars behave exactly like this before. The new species has the habit of making itself a kind of protective suit, reminiscent of a portable cage or body armor. The fortification is woven directly from leaves, which this creature has learned to roll into a tiny roll. The caterpillar climbs into its cocoon of leaves and moves through the forest using its mouth and forelimbs, dragging its protective suit with it everywhere. While the larva obtains food for itself, its body remains under the protection of the leaf cocoon. The clever creature even provided a special recess in the center of its body armor, which allows it to quickly turn around inside this protective structure if the caterpillar suddenly needs to urgently get out of the twisted sheet through the “back door.”

9. Amazing camouflage

What types of camouflage do caterpillars resort to in order to protect their soft bodies from animals and insects that are not averse to feasting on these small creatures? Some caterpillars look like bird droppings, others have bright spots that look just like snake eyes, and there are also larvae that have learned to imitate their poisonous relatives, which is why predators prefer to avoid them.

However, among all this soft-bodied brethren, there is one type of caterpillar that has absolutely unique abilities. The larva of the moth of the species Synchlora aerata camouflages itself in a rather inventive way - for camouflage it uses pieces of petals and other parts of the plants on which it feeds. This caterpillar decorates its back with leaves using sticky saliva, and when its colorful costume wears out, the animal tears off its old disguise and starts all over again.

8. Jumping caterpillar

In the forests of South Vietnam, caterpillars wrap themselves in leaves, like a sleeping bag, to begin the pupation process. And a species called Calindoea trifascialis has even learned to jump on the ground right in such a leafy cocoon, and he does this to hide from the sun's rays. To jump, this larva rests its abdominal pairs of legs on the bottom of its "sleeping bag" and pushes itself back, jumping in the opposite direction from its head.

The caterpillar can jump like this for almost 3 days until it finds a suitable place to begin its final transformation into a butterfly. When Professor Chris Darling began studying these little yellow larvae in 1998, he and his students noticed that the hopping creature was secreting a strange liquid. Not every sane person would think of licking such a caterpillar, but Chris did it! He did not feel any special taste, but soon his tongue became numb, which, according to the professor, was a consequence of the protective system of the larva, which used its chemical weapon against him.

In the laboratory, the scientist found out what kind of liquid he licked, and it turned out to be an unpleasant-smelling mixture of hydrocarbons and hydrocyanic acid produced by the body of the insect. The smell of this poisonous liquid fills the caterpillar's homemade cocoon and scares off ants and other voracious predators, which otherwise would not fail to sink their teeth into the protein-rich body of the larva.

7. Caterpillar with a hat

And this larva is the future moth of the Uraba lugens species, but before its legendary phase of transformation into a winged creature, it lives no less amazing life. On her head it is easy to notice a process in the form of an eccentric horn. This strange part of the caterpillar’s ​​body is actually a “hat” of its old head capsules, which it throws off during each new molt. Each time the caterpillar sheds its old skin, it displaces its old head shell onto the very top of the new and now larger head, creating over and over again new level amazing crown.

During its life, the Uraba lugens larva molts about 13 times before final pupation, so sometimes a real tower of old body parts can be built on the head of such a caterpillar, which can be even larger than the larva itself. Why exactly she does this is still unknown, but for some time researchers assumed that the unique headdress of this creature was a kind of security system. Perhaps the horn distracts the predators, and they attack the empty head capsules, while the real caterpillar just manages to escape.

This theory sounded quite plausible for some time, until scientists conducted a series of experiments showing that both caterpillars without hats and larvae with horns, caught in a Petri dish along with the insects feeding on them, coped with the task of self-defense almost equally. They probably just like to put their own heads together...

6. Musical maestros in the world of insects

It turns out that there is a species of caterpillar that has developed a highly organized method of communication. For example, some larvae have learned to talk to each other using the back of their body. Scientists from Carlton University, Canada, have discovered that birch silkworm caterpillars have special anal processes that they use to scrape leaves to signal their relatives.

This is not the only method of communication that these larvae practice. Birch silkworms have also learned to shake their bodies and drum their mouthparts (mandibles) on the surface of leaves, allowing them to produce a range of different sounds and signals to other caterpillars in their community. As soon as one caterpillar begins to scratch and shake the leaves, its other fellows perceive this as a signal for a general gathering and crawl in the direction of the signal until they all gather together in one common group.

Researchers have not yet figured out what each type of signal means individually, and some scientists even believe that these caterpillars do not actually communicate with each other. But evolutionary biologist Jayne Yack has a different opinion: "I've studied insect sounds for over 30 years, and I've never seen an insect produce so many different calls." The caterpillars probably use all these sounds and vibrations to form social groups.

5. Poisonous nicotine breath

One of the favorite snacks of the tobacco hawk moth caterpillar is extremely toxic tobacco leaves. This plant contains a toxic substance (nicotine), which it uses as a defense against herbivores, otherwise the animals would have destroyed this species long ago. But the tobacco hawk moth not only happily feasts on these leaves, which are toxic and even lethal for some animals, but has also learned to use tobacco as a personal weapon against other predators. The caterpillar redirects nicotine from its digestive system into the hemolymph (the equivalent of the bloodstream in the insect world). The hawkmoth larva then opens small pores in its skin (spiracles) and releases toxic fumes. Biologists called this process protective halitosis ( medical term, halitosis). When poisonous fumes are directed at predators such as wolf spiders, they save the caterpillar from being attacked and becoming someone's tasty morsel.

4. Hawaiian carnivorous caterpillars

On the Hawaiian Islands live carnivorous caterpillars that lie in their shelters all day long and wait for an unsuspecting victim to treat themselves to its meat. For example, caterpillars of the species Hyposmocoma molluscivora will not eat plant foods, even when dying of hunger. This small larva grows to only 8 millimeters in length, but despite its tiny size, it manages to eat whole snakes alive, attacking them from its secluded ambush. To prevent the snake from escaping its fate, Hyposmocoma molluscivora chains its victim to the leaves with a silk thread, just like spiders spin a real cocoon of cobwebs around small insects. The caterpillar then climbs into the silk trap containing the captive snake and slowly eats the victim directly alive, leaving only the empty shell of the snake.

Hyposmocoma molluscivora is the only species of caterpillar that feeds on snakes, but its uniqueness does not end there. It turns out that this larva is so far the only known full-fledged amphibian of its kind. She is able to survive both on land and under water, although researchers still do not understand how exactly she manages to breathe in aquatic environment. Daniel Rubinoff, a professor at the University of Hawaii, believes this caterpillar has a special respiratory organ, which scientists still haven't noticed, or that she breathes using skin pores adapted to process oxygen underwater.

Another species of carnivorous caterpillar lives in Hawaii, and these are the larvae of flower moths (Eupithecia), which look just like a small clawed hand waiting for its chance to pounce on an unsuspecting prey. These masters of camouflage stretch their bodies along the leaves, pretending to be harmless stems, and freeze until the unfortunate victim approaches them. But when its turn comes, in the blink of an eye the flower moth slams its body shut and grabs the surprised prey with its clawed legs.

These are just two examples of as many as 18 species of carnivorous caterpillars found in the Hawaiian Islands. wild nature this region is truly amazing!

3. Caterpillar overlords and slave owners

The caterpillar of the Japanese blueberry butterfly of the species Arhopala amantes has an incredible and even almost sinister security system against spiders, wasps and other predatory insects from its range. These larvae have learned to take innocent ants into virtual slavery, forcing them to become their warlike bodyguards. They manage this with the help chemical substance, which the caterpillars secrete as sugar droplets through their skin onto the surface of the grass. The ants are attracted by the sweet smell of this liquid, and once they taste it, they never return to their native anthill, forget about food and do not dare leave their new owner, the sinister caterpillar-lord Arhopala amantes.

The larva of this butterfly has even learned to give orders to attack - when it unfolds its small antennae, its subordinate ants become especially aggressive and attack any insect approaching them. Professor at Kobe University (Japan), Masuru Hojo, believes that glandular cells in the area of ​​the caterpillar's antennae secrete a special chemical, which is perceived by enslaved ants as a signal to attack strangers. “It is possible that both the visual and chemical cues stimulate ant aggression,” Hojo suggests. Ants that have not tasted the caterpillar's sweet secretions do not react in any way to the waving of its antennae. The Japanese professor is inclined to believe that the power of the larvae of the Arhopala amantes species depends entirely on their secret chemical weapon, with which they manipulate the ants that have tried their “potion.”

2. Floating entrails and soft-bodied robots

You've probably noticed how unusually the caterpillars move. In motion they resemble tiny waves. However, what happens inside them during this bizarre crawling deserves a separate discussion. Did you know, for example, that the guts of a larva are one step ahead of the rest of its body? Biologists at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences came to this conclusion when they x-rayed tobacco hawk moth caterpillars to better understand how they move.

Taking an X-ray of a crawling caterpillar is a rather difficult task, if only because these creatures do not have bones. That's why biologist Michael Simon and his team placed test specimens on a tiny homemade caterpillar treadmill and illuminated their insides with a special particle accelerator from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. Researchers found that internal organs the caterpillars move independently of its outer shell and even outstrip its limbs. “The movement of internal tissues caused by general locomotion (the scientific term for moving from place to place) has been observed in many organisms, but caterpillars appear to move using a two-part system including outer shell and the entrails contained within. This mechanism explains the amazing freedom of movement of these soft-bodied sliders,” says Michael Simon, the first author of a study on this topic, who published his work in the British scientific journal Current Biology. This unique form of crawler locomotion is called “visceral locomotive pistoning”.

You might wonder why it was so important for scientists to know what happens to the insides of butterfly larvae as they move from place to place. It turns out that research into the crawling mechanism of caterpillars can be very useful for the development of soft-body robots, which may subsequently become very popular in the transport industry. In July 2010, Professor Simon explained to LiveScience that "one of the main advantages of a soft-shell robot is its ability to move delicate loads such as electronics, fragile instruments and chemicals." A rigid-frame robot has a hard shell, while a soft-body vehicle can be deformed in all directions without damaging its contents.

Citing his team's research into the amazing propulsion system of caterpillars, Michael Simon reminded us all that "the world is still full of opportunities for new discoveries in even the simplest and most mundane things and places."

1. Caterpillar soup and imaginal discs

We all know that caterpillars weave cocoons to protect their pupa from exposure outside world, while she goes through the miraculous process of transforming herself into a butterfly or moth. A pupa is essentially a hardened shell, inside which the caterpillar prepares for the most important changes in its life. Initially, this shell grows just under the top layer of the larva's skin. When this outer skin falls off, the chrysalis (pupa) emerges. At first, this chrysalis is quite soft to the touch, but then it hardens to protect the larva while it is in the process of pupation. And from this moment the most interesting and unusual thing begins: once in a fairly hard protective cocoon, the caterpillar secretes special digestive enzymes that destroy its body into a real soup. The larva literally dissolves and digests itself, but some of its extremely important tissues remain intact. These are called imaginal discs.

What is this all about, you ask? To answer this question we will have to go back to the very beginning - to the time when the caterpillar was still a small egg. As the unhatched larva develops, it grows special clusters of cells inside its body (the same imaginal discs). Each disc represents a different part of the body that it will eventually become when the caterpillar becomes a butterfly or moth. Each wing, eye, antenna and leg has its own separate imaginal disc.

Once the pupated caterpillar has digested and turned most of its body into a liquid soup of organs, leaving only its imaginal discs floating in the mixture, these clusters of cells use the liquid environment around them as fuel to quickly form the organs of the future adult butterfly or moth. The entire transformation process from the egg stage, larvae and until the emergence adult called holometaboly.

It would seem, after everything described, what even more extraordinary could happen in the lives of these creatures? However, researchers have recently discovered that at least some species of moth retain memories of laboratory experiments in which they took part as caterpillars.

So evolutionary ecologist Martha Weiss placed a tobacco hawk moth larva in a small Y-shaped tube. One of the sections of this tube led towards the area that smelled of ethyl acetate (a pungent odor), and the other - to clean air. Caterpillars that chose a move that smelled of ethyl acetate were beaten electric shock, after which 78% percent of them preferred to avoid areas with the smell of this chemical in the future. A month later, when the caterpillars turned into adult moths, they were faced with exactly the same choice. 77% of moles reliably avoided tubes that smelled of ethyl acetate. According to Martha Weiss, this proves that during the most significant restructuring of the body, which is the transition from the pupa to the stage of an adult insect, these animals somehow retain the areas of the brain responsible for the memories of the caterpillar.

Bonus! Most terrible nightmare each caterpillar

Bonus-2! Caterpillar-Trump

This funny little ball of yellow hair is a caterpillar of a butterfly of the megalopygid family. Recently, playful researchers who discovered this caterpillar in Amazonian forests Peru, they began to call the shaggy creature “Trumpapillar” (Trumpapillar) for its striking hairstyle with American President Donald Trump. These caterpillars can actually be quite different colors, including white, pink and red.

The hairs covering the body of the larva are very similar in properties to the fur of a tarantula. In addition, they are covered in tiny poisonous spines, contact with which causes a painful rash. This self-defense mechanism has proven to be so effective that it can even serve a clear example Batesian mimicry in the case of the chicks of the Amazonian bird, the gray aulia. Its young look almost identical to this toxic caterpillar, which serves them well when it comes to camouflage from the carnivorous inhabitants of the Amazon.

When the chicks of the aulia feel danger, they even begin to move like megalopygid larvae, so that the predator (local snakes and monkeys) is afraid of an unwanted collision with the poisonous trampapillar larva.

Life cycle for some insect species it can last 15 years. As for extreme temperatures, there are individuals in the world that feel quite comfortable at temperatures of 70 degrees below zero.

Every child knows that a caterpillar is nothing more than a butterfly larva. Almost all caterpillars feed on plants, that is, leaves, flowers, and sometimes fruits. But there are other varieties of these insects that do not eat leaves with flowers at all, but, for example, wool, wax, horny substances, and so on. Predatory caterpillars are also found in nature; they feed mainly on insects such as aphids, ant larvae and pupae. They do not hesitate to feast on their fellow creatures. It is known that immediately after birth, the caterpillar eats the shell of its egg, and then all the eggs it encounters along the way.

The eyes of this insect are located on the sides of the head. In addition, the organs of vision are located in close proximity to the caterpillar’s ​​mouth, and they are located in the form of an arc consisting of 5 simple eyes with one in the middle of the arc. Did you know that an ordinary caterpillar can easily compete with the strongest athlete, because its body has about 4000 muscles, while humans, as we know, have only 629 of them. Unlike human ones, the muscles of caterpillars make up the skeletal structure of their body. They are like small balls of air through which blood circulates through the intertwining muscles.

From the moment it is born, the caterpillar does nothing but gain weight, eating everything in a row. Thus, after 56 days it can grow tens of times. And the caterpillar, like a spider, can make a silk web. Only the paired silk gland is located in her lower lip. This peculiar saliva, released and in contact with oxygen, turns into a silk thread. Then the caterpillar can use it to glue leaves together to create a cocoon or protection. For many centuries, people have been collecting cocoons of the silkworm caterpillar to produce silk. Just imagine that the shell of such a cocoon consists of an unbroken silk thread reaching 900 m in length, and sometimes its length can reach 1500 m.

Some caterpillars are famous for their endurance. They may hibernate in order to wait out the winter. The life cycle of some insect species can last 15 years. As for extreme temperatures, there are individuals in the world that feel quite comfortable at temperatures of 70 degrees below zero, and some species of caterpillars have gone even further: they have learned to deceive ants, posing as their queen. With the help of such a trick, they calmly worry Hard times in a warm and cozy anthill, while the ants feed and protect them.

Moreover, there are caterpillars in the world that can save humans and animals from death. The damselfish caterpillar feeds on the toxic plant and becomes poisonous themselves. They love this plant so much that in some countries they are specially bred to combat this life-threatening plant.

One of the greatest natural miracles is the transformation of a fat and clumsy caterpillar into a butterfly. Moreover, the butterfly is not always more beautiful than its larva - some caterpillars are so unusual, brightly colored and have a bizarre shape that the butterfly, especially if it is nocturnal, looks like an ugly duckling next to it.

This review contains magnificent photos illustrating what caterpillars of some species look like and what kind of butterfly they turn into. There are also some Interesting Facts about these incomparable creatures of nature.

1. Brahmin Moth

Brahmei butterflies are found in the East - in India, China, Burma, and are also common on some islands of Japan.

This is a nocturnal species of butterfly; they fly at night and sleep during the day with their wings spread. Butterflies and caterpillars are poisonous, so they have no enemies.

2. Peacock eye cecropia (Hyalophora cecropia)

The caterpillar is very poisonous, so with all its bright color it shows that it is better not to touch it. The tubercles have a rich color and additionally have dots, like those of poisonous ladybugs.

The peacock eye is the largest moth in America - larger than the palm of your hand.

3. Spicebush Swallowtail

At first glance, this creature looks more like a fish or lizard than a caterpillar. Huge false eyes scare away predators. In addition, during its life of a couple of months, the larva changes color - the egg hatches chocolate brown with large white spots, then becomes bright emerald, and before pupation - orange with a red belly.

The black-blue velvet butterfly is common in North America; in some places it gathers in colonies of hundreds of thousands of specimens.

4. Black Swallowtail

The caterpillar of the black swallowtail is very bright and noticeable - so that predators do not covet it. Although in fact it is quite edible.

This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful European butterflies. During the flight, you can see how the color of the wings of the black swallowtail shimmers.

5. Tailed Emperor Butterfly (Polyura Sempronius)

This is not a dinosaur, but a soft imperial caterpillar. Its size is up to 2 cm, and the shell visually enlarges the baby and scares the birds.

The “tailed emperor” is found only in Australia and feeds on nectar from only one plant.

6. Dalcerida (Acraga coa)

The Dalcerida caterpillar appears glassy and transparent.

At the same time, the butterfly itself is very shaggy, brick-colored. Refers to moths. Lives in tropical forests Mexico.

7. Moth (Acharia Stimulea)

This strange creature of an incomprehensible color, with a bright green blanket - very dangerous creature. Each shoot secretes poison, and even one touch to the caterpillar can put an adult in the hospital.

And the butterfly is an ordinary night moth, almost invisible.

8. Witch moth caterpillar (Phobetron pithecium)

A real caterpillar witch! Lives in orchards of both American continents. It is also called the “slug monkey” for unusual way movement - she crawls along one leaf, and jumps to another leaf.

Witch butterflies are also quite spectacular and large. They are nocturnal.

9. Greta Oto, or Glass Winged Butterfly

The caterpillar of the incredible Greta butterfly looks ordinary and does not attract attention.

But the glass butterfly with transparent wings looks simply amazing. This species lives in Mexico and throughout South America.

10. Large harpy, or spotted forktail (Cerura vinula)

Both the caterpillar and the harpy butterfly itself have a rather terrifying appearance. The growth in the form of a mustache confuses the birds, and they do not risk feasting on this completely edible larva.

The white moth from the Corydalis family is quite large and emits an unpleasant odor, so few people would dare try it.

11. Flannel Moth

This is not a tuft of fur on a bush, but the larva of a flannel moth. Very poisonous creature!!! Under no circumstances should you touch it!

Adult flannel moths appear soft and cuddly, but they are also poisonous. Found in the USA and Mexico.

12. Blue Morpho

This strange furry stick, whose head is unclear and where the tail is, after transformation will become one of the most beautiful butterflies in the world.

The blue Morpho butterfly lives in Central and South America. It is very large - reaches 210 mm in span. The wings have a metallic tint and shimmer when flying. There are 60 varieties of Morpho in all shades of blue.

13. Slug worm (Isochaetes beutenmuelleri)

This gorgeous caterpillar looks like an ornate ice crystal covered with numerous needles. The sight of it seems completely unappetizing to the birds!

And the adult butterfly is an ordinary night woodlice. Distributed throughout North America.

14. Silkmoth (Hubbard's Small Silkmoth)

This is exactly the famous caterpillar that makes silk thread, and people make wonderful fabric from it. These larvae eat only mulberry or mulberry leaves.

The silkworm butterfly is nocturnal.

15. Slug Butterfly (Isa Textula)

The leaf-shaped caterpillar stings with its hairs. She moves very interestingly - in zigzags, leaving noticeable traces.

The butterfly is also quite spectacular, 3-4 times smaller than a caterpillar and flies only at night.

16. Rainbow Blue Swallowtail Butterfly

The rainbow swallowtail caterpillar is a very impressive creature, looking like a horned bull.

A very beautiful and bright large butterfly lives in only one place on Earth - in the Ussuri taiga.

17. Spotted Apatelodes

This simply adorable furry caterpillar is extremely poisonous. By the way, her head is where there is one “feather”!

The spotted apatelodes moth is very large and buzzes loudly when it flies.

18. Saturnia Io (Automeris io)

Incredible bright green caterpillar with pompoms. Distributed in Canada and the USA. Very poisonous. The Indians used it to lubricate their arrows.

The colorful moth is also quite impressive, especially at night when those “eyes” glow.

19. Butterfly from the peacock-eye family (Attacus Atlas)

This furry miracle is a very rare larva. And all because people caught both them and butterflies en masse for sale.

The size of peacock eyes is impressive - up to 25 cm! The price of a copy reaches a thousand dollars. The atlas peacock eye is found in South-East Asia, China, Indonesia. The largest specimen with a wingspan of almost 27 cm was caught on the island. Java in 1922. This butterfly has no mouth and does not eat anything its entire life.

Many people are accustomed to thinking that all butterflies are exclusively garden decorations. In fact, along with harmless ones, there are also pest butterflies that cause considerable damage to plants. Considering that the caterpillars of these insects are extremely voracious, damage to garden crops can be caused on a huge scale.

Photos of pest butterflies, their names and detailed descriptions presented on this page.

Plant protection from the acacia moth pest butterfly

American tree pest butterfly

Represents a large white butterfly, whose wingspan reaches 4 cm. It damages many berry bushes. The pupae of the American white butterfly overwinter under dead bark, in cracks and other secluded places.

Summer begins in May. Their activity manifests itself at night. The females of these tree pest butterflies lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves, mainly in the treetops.

The caterpillars of the American white butterfly are covered with thick, long hairs. At the beginning of development, their color is yellow, then dark stripes form on the back and sides. The length of the caterpillars reaches 3.5 cm.

Young caterpillars feed on leaves, eating their flesh without veins. In addition, they form spider nests.

During massive infestations of caterpillars, the tree may lose its leaves altogether, which significantly weakens and reduces its winter hardiness and fruiting.

To combat this pest, it is necessary to carry out regular inspection and. Detected spider web nests of caterpillars should be immediately removed and burned.

Infected trees and all plantings within a radius of 50 m from the source of the disease must be sprayed with fungicides and contact herbicides. Trees should be treated with insecticides before flowering.

Butterfly-pest of the garden and vegetable garden hawthorn (with photo)

It is a large light-colored butterfly from the white butterfly family. It has white wings with black veins, the span of which is on average 5-6 cm.

The caterpillars of this butterfly, a pest of gardens and vegetable gardens, cause damage to fruit trees greatest harm because they eat the leaves. The pest weaves a web around them, making nests in which it overwinters.

In the spring, when the flower buds of the apple tree are just beginning to bloom, the caterpillars leave their shelter and begin to gnaw out the buds, then damage the leaves, leaving only thick veins.

Leaf spinner butterfly pest

It is a butterfly with a wingspan of 9-11 mm. Its forewings are gray with black streaks, a whitish transverse stripe and a large dark gray spot at the base. The egg is oval, yellow. Its size is 0.3-0.4 mm.

The caterpillar is spindle-shaped, black-orange at first, and olive-green before pupation. Her head and chest shield are black. The caterpillar length is 5-6 mm. The pupa is brown, in a white cocoon, 5 mm long.

The spinner damages apple, plum and other fruit trees.

Caterpillars overwinter in cobweb cocoons under loose bark of branches and trunks. In the spring, the caterpillars begin to feed, gnawing inner part kidney They then damage the flowers and leaves, pulling them into bundles with cobwebs. After the plants flower, the caterpillars move to young shoots of new growth, resulting in damage to the apical leaves.

In addition, they gnaw shoots near the buds, making tunnels in them. This feeding of the caterpillars lasts 20-25 days. Pupation occurs among damaged leaves and under bark scales. It takes 2 weeks for the pupa to develop. The revived caterpillars penetrate the leaves and gnaw out passages in which they live until autumn. After which they move to wintering areas.

To protect against leaf spinner It is recommended to treat trees with yarrow decoction. To prepare it, you need to pour 250 g of yarrow into 2 liters of water, boil over low heat for 5 minutes, cool well, strain. Add 7.5 liters of cold water. Spraying should be carried out during a period of mass pest invasion.

Grape leaf roller - pest butterfly

is a butterfly with a wingspan of 18-22 mm. Its forewings are double yellow or green-gold with a brown-gray pattern, which is often blurred and sometimes absent. The hind wings are gray-brown. The egg is 1 mm in size, oval. The clutch of eggs is initially yellow-green and turns yellow before the caterpillars hatch.

Caterpillar 18-23 mm long, gray-green. The pupa is 10 mm long, first green, then acquires a brownish tint.

Overwintering of only the revived black-brown caterpillars takes place in dense pearl-colored cocoons in bark cracks or soil at a depth of 4-5 cm.

In spring, the caterpillars move onto plants, penetrate the buds of grapes and feed on them from the inside. After which they move on to young foliage, inflorescences and ovaries at the top of the shoots. They gnaw through holes in the leaves.

Sometimes grape leaf roller caterpillars can gnaw through the ridge at the base, causing the bunch to dry out. Several damaged leaves entangled in a web form a loose ball, then turn brown and dry out.

After completion of development, which lasts about a month, the caterpillars pupate in their feeding areas. After 2 weeks, butterflies fly out, and their activity continues until the end of July. After mating, females lay eggs on the upper side of the leaf near the main vein. The oviposition is covered with foamy secretions. After 2 weeks, the caterpillars are reborn, but do not feed, but move to their wintering areas.

To protect against grape budworm, it is recommended to treat plants with a decoction of potato tops. To prepare it, you need to pour 1.5 kg of fresh tops with 10 liters of water, boil over low heat for 20 minutes, cool and strain. Then dissolve 50 g of previously grated laundry soap in the broth. Spraying with the resulting decoction should be carried out as needed, preferably in the evening.

Butterfly pest exclamation scoop and the fight against it

It is a butterfly 35-45 mm in size, the front wings of which are one color, almost without transverse stripes. The male has light, yellowish-gray wings.

The females are dark brown or dark brown. The hind wings of the male are light, while those of the female are brown.

The egg is 0.7-0.9 mm in size, grayish. The caterpillar's body is matte, yellow-brown or gray-brown. The pupa is 16-20 mm in size, yellow-brown, with two spines on the dorsal side.

Caterpillars overwinter in the soil. In spring, their pupation is observed in the surface layer of soil. The butterfly season begins in the first half of June.

Pests lay eggs on the soil, dry plant debris or on leaves of cultivated plants located close to the ground. After 2 weeks, caterpillars form, which can feed on almost all vegetable crops growing on the site.

To combat the cutworm, it is recommended to spray the plants with an infusion of calendula seeds with the addition of garlic. To prepare it, you need to mix 4 cups of calendula seeds and 100 g of garlic minced through a meat grinder. Pour 10 liters of boiling water over the resulting mixture and leave for 3 hours. Spraying should be carried out once a week in the evening. Treatment must be stopped 30 days before harvest.

Corrosive woodworm and the fight against butterfly pests

- a large butterfly, the wingspan of which reaches 7 cm. Its white wings are covered with numerous blue-black spots.

Woodworm caterpillars are covered with hairs, which helps them spread over long distances with the wind.

The insect damages all fruit crops and many forest trees.

The laying of eggs by females continues until mid-August. Each of them is capable of depositing up to 1000 pieces in cracks in the bark and branching shoots.

The emerging caterpillars begin to damage young shoots of trees, biting into them. The leaves on such shoots dry out and die.

Caterpillars overwinter on tree branches and in passages made in them. Next season, the caterpillars have not yet become butterflies.

Only in the third season do the caterpillars gnaw exit holes, pupate inside the branch and then fly out.

In addition, you can stuff cotton balls soaked in gasoline into the passages made by the tree. After this, the entrance holes should be covered with clay.

From the beginning of August until the onset of leaf fall, it is recommended to periodically inspect the crowns of trees and remove young shoots damaged by woodworm.

When infested by corrosive woodworm caterpillars, it is recommended to spray the trees with a concentrated solution of chlorophos, but only after harvesting.

In this case, you should first spray only a few shoots of the tree to eliminate the possibility of burning the branches with concentrated chlorophos.

Plant pest butterfly lacewing

It is a white butterfly with a golden fluffy belly. Lacetail caterpillars are dark, hairy, with two orange spots at the end. They are easily carried by the wind. Lacewings damage all fruit trees.

Caterpillars overwinter in nests of 5-7 dry leaves, attached to the forks of branches with cobwebs.

At the beginning of bud break, the caterpillars emerge from their nests and begin to eat the leaves. 2 weeks after flowering, they erect spider nests, where they pupate.

In mid-summer, lacewing butterflies fly out. Females begin to lay eggs on branches, trunks, and the underside of leaves. Clutches of eggs look like rollers. After 3 weeks, caterpillars emerge from the eggs, which first feed on the leaves, and by winter they make nests out of them.

To combat lacewings, it is necessary to regularly collect and destroy spider nests. When collecting lacewing nests, gloves should be worn to prevent skin irritation.

After leaf fall, it is necessary to remove all curled leaves from the trees, which often become overwintering sites for caterpillars.

You can get rid of caterpillars mechanically by shaking them onto a litter spread under the tree crown.

Ringed silkworm: how to reduce the number of pest butterflies

Ringed silkworm is a large light brown butterfly with a pubescent body from the family