Favoritos de oscarpc

Individual is 2.5cm. Photography taken just after its "capture".

It's a girl!!!!! She spent 15 days in her cocoon and 24 hours before getting out of it, she had already attracted a male, see: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/57280942

This is a crazy day! I checked this cocoon around 9:30am this morning and nothing was happening. Then, based on the time stamps of my camera, at 10:42am, she was out and I immediately fed this observation with pics and additional notes.
11:53am: a male shows up!
1:01pm: she's already laid about 100 eggs!
~4pm: no pulse on her abdomen. I think she's dead or dying.

What a short and intense moment for this lady Rusty Tussock Moth!

Sept. 2, 2020: the individual is actually not dead. I saw it moving and walking around her eggs yesterday.

May 31st 2021: eggs have hatched today

A Western Tussock Moth Caterpillar (Orgyia vetusta), photographed as it was crawling up the exterior wall of the bathrooms at Washington Park in Sunnyvale, CA. This has been a banner season for caterpillars of the Western Tussock Moth, who appear to have taken over many of the urban parks in the area. The infestation has been so pronounced this year that it has even made the local news, who obligingly posted pictures of this critter along with its identification. This made identifying the little beast fairly straightforward.

Despite its bristliness and hairiness, the caterpillar of the Western Tussock is actually a very colorful creature. One can find every color of the rainbow amongst its hairs and bristles except for green and violet. Its colorfulness may indicate that it isn't especially tasty to would-be predators, but I'm not absolutely sure about that. It can get to a respectable size for a caterpillar; I think this one was about 1.3 inches long.

References:

1. Graff, Amy. "Caterpillar infestation in Mountain View: 'They're dropping from trees.'" SFGate, April 20, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/western-tussock-moth-California-infestation-12850693.php on 4/21/18.
2. Bug Guide, "Species Orgyia vetusta- Western Tussock Moth - Hodges #309." Retrieved from https://bugguide.net/node/view/18317/bgimage on 4/21/18.
3. North American Moth Photographers Group, 'Orgyia vetusta - Western Tussock Moth." Retrieved from http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8309 on 4/21/18.
4. iNaturalist, "Western Tussock Moth (Orgyia vetusta.)" Retrieved from the following link: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/61908-Orgyia-vetusta on 4/21/18,

on 大花曼陀羅 Brugmansia suaveolens

photo on:

day 1 x 1, (skin shedded on day 1 after this photo),

day 3 x 1,

day 5 x 1 (staying close to its good friend Artaxa, being found together on the same leaf on day 1)

Day 6 x 4 (one photo is the 2nd shedded skin, one photo is the 2nd shedded head)

Day 8 x 3

Day 10 x 3 (one photo with the 3rd shedded skin)

Day 11 x 2

Day 12 x 2

Day 15 x 1 (staying closely with its good friend Artaxa the last time. They are in such harmony for 15 days, always co-operatively finishing one leaf together, before consuming the next one. Together, they have eaten 12 big leaves.)

After being company to Artaxa for 15 days, Orgyia postica retreated to an upper corner of the breeding chamber, fasting and waiting...

Day 18 x 1 (pupa in cocoon)

Day 26 x 1 (adult, female, hanging next to its cocoon)

Day 30 x 2

On Scrophularia canina

subsequent captive development

cocoon

fresh wild adult male attracted by a reared female, same place, 2018/08/01

The White- Marked Tussock Moth overwinters as eggs laid on the mother's cocoon. In the spring the eggs hatch and tiny, hairy caterpillars begin to feed and grow. Some drop from trees suspended from a single silk strand. These may balloon a considerable distance to invade new landscapes. When mature the caterpillars spin grayish cocoons inside of which they pupate. About two weeks later the moths emerge and mate. Male moths have mottled brown to brown-grayish wings. Females have wings so short they appear to be wingless. They lay their eggs in mass (approximately 300) on the cocoon and cover them with a frothy material that hardens to a protective covering.

The cats have two hair "pencils" of black setae (a stiff structure resembling a hair or bristle) that extend forward beyond the head and a single rear pencil of black setae. The cats also have four short white clumps of setae on the top of the first four abdominal segments as well as two bright red bumps on segments six and seven. Some of these setae contain urticating material that can cause irritation to sensitive skin.

I notice that @stbuckley documented the same tussock moth larvae at Capulin a few days later:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3773255

The Lymantriid fauna of New Mexico is very limited but these cats don't match anything in the available caterpillar references that I have. A large handful of these were munching on Gray Oak (Quercus grisea), very near the trailhead. The present critter had crawled off into some grass, but most individuals were on oak.

Feeding on Live Oak. Looks like another bad year for the oaks. I recently saw numerous small oaks whose leaves were eaten away by the California Oak Moth so it is double trouble. Don't know if it is response to early winter rains and then none or unusually warm days in the past few weeks with temperatures exceeding 80º, which is unusual for our area.

press - L - to see it large and on black.
press - F - if you like it :)
.

Click here to see an overview of my favorite shots :)

I found this caterpillar on our climbing rose on Saturday. It's bold markings and four yellow tufts were striking but I didn't know what species of moth or butterfly it was. A twitpic on twitter and a posting on the Amateur Wildlife Film-makers Network didn't take long to produce an answer - Jan Atkinson (@kittiwake70) and Stewart Canham came to my aid with it's identification as the caterpillar of a Vapourer Moth. Stewart added another fact - that the female moth was wingless, so with my interest piqued I did a little more research.
The Vapourer Moth, Orgyia antiqua from the family Lymantriidae, can be found in most of the UK with higher numbers in the south. Male Vapourer's are daylight flying moths, easily confused with a small brown butterfly. The caterpillars emerge in April and May and feed on deciduous trees and shrubs - my guess is it is making a good meal of my climbing rose, eating below the bud in the picture above.
After pupation, the Vapourer's lifecycle differs dramatically depending on its sex. The female is flightless and remains close to its silk enclosed glossy black and hairy cocoon for its short life, releasing a pheromone to attract the flying males. Fertilised eggs are laid on the pupal cocoon and overwinter before emerging the next spring.
The males have dark, orange brown wings with a white, comma shaped spot on each wing and are predated by dragon and damselflies. As Stewart suggested, it is tempting to capture it and watch it pupate as the female (if it was one) would make an interesting photograph. Instead I think I will let nature run it's course and have a nose around for a cocoon site in the wild - you never know, I might get lucky!

References - with some great additional photos of all the lifestages
Wikipedia - Vapourer Moth
UK Moths - Vapourer Moth
Natural England/The Plant Press - Vapourer Moth

23 May 2018.
Buckingham Springs, Bucks Co, PA.
Found on Acer rubrum.
Collected 5/23/18 and reared on leaves in a plastic vial.
Photo date: 5/23/18.

Photos of this individual:
5/23/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79915324.
5/26/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79919480.
5/29/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79919481.
5/30/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79919482.
6/12/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79919485.
6/13/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79919487.
6/21/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79919489.
6/28/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79919490.
6/29/18: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79919496.