Page 9 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

INTRODUCTION

7

breathing is conducted through tiny pores, called spiracles, on the sides of TOP A moth caterpillar
of the Lasiocampidae
the body. A caterpillar feeds for much of its life, using scissor-like jaws, or family is convincingly
camouflaged as a
mandibles, to snip off and grind up tiny piece after tiny piece of foodstuff. patch of moss on
tree bark in Pu’er,
As its body expands, it molts, often changing appearance. Most caterpillars Yunnan, China. Many
Lepidopteran larvae
develop through five instars (stages), shedding their skin at each stage. have an extraordinary
ability to blend into
From egg hatch to maturity, they will increase in mass by up to 1,000 times. their surroundings.
In Lepidoptera, all development occurs at the caterpillar stage, which
can take as little as ten days or, if suspended to escape extreme heat or cold, ABOVE The California
Sister (Adelpha
may last a few years, and up to seven years in the Arctic Woolly Bear californica) caterpillar,
when young, rests
(Gynaephora groenlandica). When the caterpillar pupates, all the necessary immune from
predators on piers
cells are present to be reorganized during metamorphosis into a moth or it creates from its
frass (excreta).
butterfly, whose life is usually much shorter.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Despite being so numerous, many Lepidoptera are relatively unknown
and undescribed, especially at the larval stage. More than 70 families and
55,000 species comprise the “microlepidoptera” group of very small moths,