Thursday, April 21, 2011

Metamorphosis: Caterpillar Molting Process

Sphingidae moth caterpillarSphingidae moth caterpillar 2
There are the caterpillars of the  Sphingidae family which attacked one of the plants in the backyard in Jonggol, West Java, some time ago (see Caterpillars Attack My Plant).

One afternoon, one of them I saw walking towards other plant nearby, then it hid behind one of the leaf.
After not doing anything for almost 1 day, the caterpillars finally began to molt at noon the next day. This is my first experience of seeing a caterpillar molting process.

After the entire process was completed, the caterpillars eat the old skin.

Note: Caterpillars of the Sphingidae family are often called hornworms due to the well-developed "horn" on the posterior end of the abdomen.

See more information in:
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphingidae
  • www3.islandtelecom.com/~oehlkew/catanim.htm 
  • www.butterflyschool.org/new/meta.html
caterpillar molting
caterpillar molting 2
caterpillar molting 3
caterpillar molting 4
caterpillar molting 5
caterpillar molting 6caterpillar molting 7
caterpillar molting 8caterpillar molting 9
Photos of Moth Caterpillar (Sphingidae family) molting process were taken using a camera phone Sony Ericsson K800i in Jonggol, West Java, Indonesia.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Foto ini kayaknya bisa masuk ke Majalah SERANGGA mas. Keren banget angle-nya. Boleh?

daisugi said...

oke aku sudah kirim gambarnya via email ya :-)

roopa said...

This is very funny blog.But I love caterpillarsdrupal website development molting process pictures.Thanks for sharing.

roopa said...

Its so interesting and looks so dangerous.Thanks for sharing.Website Development Qatar

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