Page 26 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

right Parasitic wasps
in the Braconidae
family are major
parasitoids of
caterpillars. Braconid
maggots spend their
10 to 14-day lives
eating the insides
of a caterpillar, such
as this Pandora
Sphinx (Eumorpha
pandorus), and break
out Alien-like to
pupate in cocoons,
from which tiny
wasps will emerge.
CATERPILLAR

DEFENSES
24
24

From every 100 eggs laid by a female moth or butterfly, very few—perhaps

just one to five—will survive to become an adult. Biotic (natural, living)
enemies and abiotic (mostly climatic) factors combine to ruthlessly
decimate populations of eggs, caterpillars, and pupae. Consequently, every
species is engaged in an ever-evolving “arms race,” which pits each new
larval defense strategy against improved counterstrategies by its predators.
Multiple means of defense are employed by virtually all caterpillar species,

with individual tactics often changing in importance during development.
The caterpillar’s natural enemies range from birds and mammals to
other insects, such as praying mantids, beetles, lacewings, and spiders.
Parasitic flies and wasps, which lay eggs that develop inside the caterpillars,

literally consuming them alive, pose possibly the greatest threat and
sometimes completely wipe out caterpillar populations.

CONCEALMENT AND EVASION
Various tactics help species escape non-parasitoid predation. Relatively

small caterpillars, such as some lycaenids, hide by burrowing into the host
plant itself. Others use their host plant to create a refuge; some skipper
(Hesperiidae) caterpillars bind leaves together with their silk to create an
individual “nest” or fashion bivouacs from sections of leaf flipped over

and tied down with silk.
Larvae that are active at night can avoid diurnal enemies such as birds
and larger predatory insects. The many caterpillars that rest by day
concealed at the base of their host plants are among the hardest to detect.
Camouflage, or crypsis, is equally effective for diurnal feeders. Many