We have miscellaneous photos from regulars today. First, from Mark Sturtevant:
While going over some old pictures, I suddenly realized I had never sent you pictures from the batch of ‘hickory horned devil’ caterpillars that I had raised some years ago. These grow to become the longest caterpillar in the U.S., and later they become the lovely regal moth (Citheronia regalis), which, perhaps surprisingly, is not our largest moth. Anyway, here is a picture of these babies. They were quite a handful. This was, so far, from the only time that I reared this species, although it was very easy and I hope to do it again one day. I had over a dozen of them (!), but sadly none survived to the adult stage. I think the problem was it was too cold for them in my refrigerator where they spent the winter.
Some things to note here are that the blue-ish ones have stopped feeding, and they would very much prefer to be looking for a place to burrow underground to form a pupa. You can see the brownish color of the future pupa is already inside them. Another thing to note is that the second one from the right is pooping. Look at the size of that turd!
To get an idea of the size of these things, I recommend to zoom in so that my hand is about the size of your hand.
I’ll add a picture of the beautiful Regal Moth taken from Our Breathing Planet:
And two photos from Diana MacPherson, who sent snaps of an American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Her notes:
Notice the weird fur colour in the second picture (near the bum). This is the same red squirrel that visits my feeder all the time. I watched where he/she went and it was along the horse fence, to the front of my yard and into an evergreen tree on my neighbour’s property near the fence.
I believe that’s a red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) nomming nearby.
Check the squirrel’s bum:
Finally, I had asked readers to send me a photo of Mercury’s transit across the Sun a few days ago, and finally one obliged: the indefatigable Ben Goren, who sent notes:
You could maybe title it, “Spot the planet!”To put things in perspective…Mercury is about 3,000 miles across, bigger than the Moon. Roughly, you could fit Asia in that dot…and it’s not even as big as the very small storm (sunspot) near the center….Photographed with a Canon 5Ds mounted to a Canon 400mm f/2.8 II with a 2x teleconverter, and a Baader filter in front.
![[ Color corrected by ArgyllCMS ]](https://i0.wp.com/whyevolutionistrue.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/mercury-transit.jpg?resize=566%2C566&ssl=1)
Great transit photo Ben,
Chris G
Great picture, Ben! I succeeded in watching the transit, and tried to get a picture but I doubt any of them came out.
Maybe the sqrll had some hair loss back there, and it grew back.
Thanks! If any of them did come out, be sure to send a copy on to Jerry.
b&
Those caterpillars are crazy!!
I don’t believe I’ve seen the sentence “Check the squirrel’s bum” before.
Mark, those are great caterpillars. I raised a batch when I was a kid and loved them. I don’t recall whether the pupae survived, which means they probably didn’t survive because I would surely remember that lovely moth.
With the caterpillars, just put ’em on a branch in a bush and note location. I did that with a Polyphemus caterpillar I found once. It promptly made a cocoon and pupated the next spring. Suspect being in a refrigerator dehydrates them.
I kept them slightly humid in the fridge, and I did this successfully with various other species. I suspect that it was just too cold for the HHDs, since they live in more Southern states.
Next time I will just not refrigerate them, but let them stay where they were, which was in a bucket of dirt at room temperature. I will not be releasing them anyway, so chilling them to emerge in the late Spring was really not needed.
Great photos of the Devils, Mark. My evolutionary priming goes into high gear when I see those things. Surely something like that will bite, is poisonous, etc. Exactly the desired response.
Regarding the poop. Last year I had a couple of tomato plants taken down in a day by an infestation of hornworms. These are huge guys in their own right. And the poop! These guys make poop faster than I can crank pasta out of a roller. It was oddly shaped – geometric – and about the size of a pencil eraser.
I do not really understand their defenses except that in their younger instars they are brown, and they have an interesting behavior where they seem to imitate bird droppings. I will try to show that in round 2 (maybe this summer).
They gradually change color as they grow and molt, eventually turning to this rather bizarre mix of colors. Their horns are hard, but are mounted on a squishy body. I suppose they would be hard to swallow, but what is the use of that since even the attempt would be fatal for them? When annoyed, they arch up and will lash their body from side to side. Its’ pretty intimidating, but probably completely useless as a defense against an experienced bird. Parasitic insects have no problem with them. I have wondered if they emit a strong aromatic odor (I sometimes would get a whif of something), but I am not sure of that.
I’ve read that tobacco hornworms use ‘toxic halitosis’ as a defense. They metabolize tobacco into their hemolymph and are able to ward off predators with a nasty puff of nicotine. I’m guessing that they taste horrible. I’ve also read that tobacco plants create a chemical signal from the caterpillar’s saliva that announces to other insects that a fat meal is sitting here for the plucking.
Fascinating stuff.
Interesting Ben – I’m in Europe, and to me Mercury appeared to cross the sun in the lower third, not the middle. Geographic position seems to make quite some difference.
It was almost local noon when I took the picture, so orientation is even more arbitrary than normal….
b&
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Congratulations, Ben!
Wow, what sweet caterpillars! Thanks for these, Mark, and all the info in the post and in the comments.
Very cool transit shot, Ben!
Great pics.