Ok, I let my Sunday get completely out of control, so here's a very quick Sunday Spinelessness. Behold, the Worm of the Future!

Err, actually I found this little caterpillar in one of the smaller paths in Stanely Park in Vancouver. As every schoolboy knows, all insects hae six legs, but most caterpillars supplement their "true legs" with a set of porlegs along the length of their body. The prolegs are quite different to the jointed true legs, they act more like the legs of onchyphrans, moving in ripples down the body to move the caterpillar . But caterpillars like this one, which grow up to become geometer moths, don't have prolegs along their whole body, just a few at each end. They get around by alternatively extending their bodies forward with the hindlegs clasping a surface and dragging themselves forward with their forelegs hanging on. This unique way of moving makes geometer caterpillars look like they are measuring out the set distance along a twig, which has earned them the name "inchworm" (and in fact, geometer means "earth measurer", making these moths among the very few insect groups named for their larvae)

I framed this photo to try and show one of the inchworm's characteristic behaviours; when they feel threatened the cling to a branch with one set of lets and extend themselves out. Impersonating a twig. Once I realised there was going to be no way of getting the shot without getting a bit of lens flare I decided to go all out for the science fiction movie meets mid 2000s web design look. I quite like it.

Labels: environment and ecology, larvae, moth, photos, sci-blogs, sunday spinelessness

[Hmm, it seems my clever idea to write up a bunch of Sunday Spinelessness articles and automate their appearance here was scuppered by my inability to actually read a calendar. I guess you can enjoy your spinlessness a day early this week...]

This is a male cabbage tree moth (Epiphryne verriculata) and he's not having a good day.

Usually the cabbage tree moth is one of the nicest examples of cyrpsis, or camouflage, that you'll find. They spend their days sleeping among the dried up leaves on and around cabbage trees. As you can see they are perfectly adapted to that environment - right down to the occasional spot and stripes that extend across the body as well as the wings. For some reason this particular moth alighted, not on the abundant fallen leaves around the base of one of our cabbage tress but on the underside of a nice, bright green Montbretia leaf.

Though, for obvious reasons, you don't see the adult of the cabbage tree moth very often it occurs everywhere the cabbage tree does. The caterpillars, and the half eaten leaves that leave behind, are a good deal more conspicuous. Interestingly, despite their wide range there appears to be a degree of local adaptation in E. verriculata populations. When cabbage trees grown from seeds collected in the North and the South Island are cultivated together in the South Island caterpillars of the cabbage tree moth show a preference for the 'their' southern trees.

Labels: crypsis, environment and ecology, Epiphryne verriculata, fail, moth, photos, sci-blogs, sunday spinelessness