Colourful caterpillar!

By Naturix

Hi everyone, I recently visited our majestic West Cost National Park near Langebaan in the Western Cape of South Africa and found this beautiful caterpillar. 

As an Entomology student I always try to figure out what insect it could be. Caterpillars are very difficult to identify since many caterpillars look very similar and you need to investigate all its taxonomic features. However since I did not collect the specimen and could not examine it closely I figured I would take a guess since I mainly just wanted to share the beautiful colours.

This is most likely a Cherry Spot Moth caterpillar (Diaphone eumela) and is also known as the Lily Borer caterpillar. From what I read the species are characterized by its distinctive black and yellow or orange markings. 

 

It is amazing to think in a couple of weeks this beautiful caterpillar will be a less impressive grey moth with orange spots. There is a reason for this! These caterpillars are slow and can be very venerable. The bright colours act like a warning to their predators that they might be toxic or distasteful, even if they are not it help deter their predators. Whereas the adult moths focus solely on reproduction and therefor prefer to blend in.   

I just wanted to share this majestic caterpillar. 

Thank you for reading!