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What the hell is this animal?

NorgothNorgoth cardiffRegistered User regular
So my wife sent me this picture asking what it is. I thought a lizard but it apparently has dozens of small insect like legs. It is apparently about 4 inches long.

plT3UhjKj

Posts

  • EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    edited August 2016
    Demon Caterpillar. 100 legs, 100 ways to die.

    @BugBoy

    Enc on
  • LoveIsUnityLoveIsUnity Registered User regular
    Norgoth wrote: »
    So my wife sent me this picture asking what it is. I thought a lizard but it apparently has dozens of small insect like legs. It is apparently about 4 inches long.

    plT3UhjKj

    Where are you located?

    steam_sig.png
  • OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
    Elephant hawk moth caterpillar?

    Google Image Search

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    I'm guessing it's a caterpillar that evolution deigned to make look like a itty-bitty snake to scare would-be predators.

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    This is most likely the larvae of the Tersa Sphinx Moth (Xylophanes tersa).

    Congrats! This insect's adaptive mimicry is designed to do exactly what it just did- make you confuse it for something much scarier (i.e. a snake or a lizard).

    You can raise it on leaves in a big jar and it will either get you a nice, gigantic, fluffy moth....or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so, much like the movie Alien.

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    Double post, might also be an Elephant hawk moth caterpill- *looks up, notices thread*

    hm.

    Anyway it's a a hawk moth caterpillar for sure.

  • OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so

    Ugh. That's something I never want to image search ever again.

  • tinwhiskerstinwhiskers Registered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    This is most likely the larvae of the Tersa Sphinx Moth (Xylophanes tersa).

    Congrats! This insect's adaptive mimicry is designed to do exactly what it just did- make you confuse it for something much scarier (i.e. a snake or a lizard).

    You can raise it on leaves in a big jar and it will either get you a nice, gigantic, fluffy moth....or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so, much like the movie Alien.

    For someone who loves insects so much, You have a real gift for evoking the KILL IT WITH FIRE response to them.

    6ylyzxlir2dz.png
  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited August 2016
    Arch wrote: »
    This is most likely the larvae of the Tersa Sphinx Moth (Xylophanes tersa).

    Congrats! This insect's adaptive mimicry is designed to do exactly what it just did- make you confuse it for something much scarier (i.e. a snake or a lizard).

    You can raise it on leaves in a big jar and it will either get you a nice, gigantic, fluffy moth....or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so, much like the movie Alien.

    For someone who loves insects so much, You have a real gift for evoking the KILL IT WITH FIRE response to them.

    Its final form is slightly cuter.

    Slightly.

    Cantido on
    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so

    Ugh. That's something I never want to image search ever again.

    I had a framed electron microscope image of an adult wasp bursting out of the body of an aphid hanging above my desk during my PhD

    Can't believe I forgot it when I graduated....

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Oh come on, it's like you people haven't even heard of Cordyceps before...

  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    if there is one thing fucking scary on this planet, its cordyceps

    a4irovn5uqjp.png
    Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
  • OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
    I found the wasp/caterpillar thing more visually horrifying than the fungus, personally. They look even more gross growing on the poor caterpillar, and the wikipedia article on parasitoid wasps has particularly gruesome images of a giant caterpillar-shaped bag of wasp larvae.

    I grew up in New Hampshire where we had a severe gypsy moth problem every year, but I wouldn't wish this on them.

  • spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User regular
    I'm pretty sure I needed like 5 great balls to catch one of those earlier this week. Good job using grass and tupperware instead!

  • McGibsMcGibs TorontoRegistered User regular
    If she bumps it with her finger, it will inflate a little balloon tongue on its head to look even more like a snake/lizard.
    Your wife caught a real life caterpie
    Caterpie.gif

    website_header.jpg
  • NorgothNorgoth cardiffRegistered User regular
    Thanks for the info guys.

    My wife didn't actually catch this. She was shown it by an excited 6 year old who released it back into the garden.

  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so

    Ugh. That's something I never want to image search ever again.

    I had a framed electron microscope image of an adult wasp bursting out of the body of an aphid hanging above my desk during my PhD

    Can't believe I forgot it when I graduated....

    wait, aren't aphids teensy weensy and wasps significantly less so?

    steam_sig.png
  • ShivahnShivahn Unaware of her barrel shifter privilege Western coastal temptressRegistered User, Moderator mod
    edited August 2016
    Arch wrote: »
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so

    Ugh. That's something I never want to image search ever again.

    I had a framed electron microscope image of an adult wasp bursting out of the body of an aphid hanging above my desk during my PhD

    Can't believe I forgot it when I graduated....

    1) do you have pictures of this? This sounds awesome. Way cooler than the parasites I run into, which are dumb.

    2) Wait, adults? I thought they generally ate the way through in a larval state, am I wrong with that? Or is it only certain clades of things?

    Shivahn on
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    Shivahn wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so

    Ugh. That's something I never want to image search ever again.

    I had a framed electron microscope image of an adult wasp bursting out of the body of an aphid hanging above my desk during my PhD

    Can't believe I forgot it when I graduated....

    1) do you have pictures of this? This sounds awesome. Way cooler than the parasites I run into, which are dumb.

    2) Wait, adults? I thought they generally ate the way through in a larval state, am I wrong with that? Or is it only certain clades of things?

    So, I don't have a picture because it was taken by a grad student before I got there, which is why I treasured it so much. Image searching isn't helping me too much either.

    As to the second point, it depends. Some parasitoids consume their host during the larval state, kill it, chew their way out as larvae and then pupate in soil, or somewhere else. Others instead complete their entire life cycle inside the host- they pupate and eclose inside their host, emerging as adults. Both of these strategies (and many more!) have specific names that I can't remember right now. Insect parasitoids have some of the most complex and weird diversity of lifecycles around (look up polyembryonic parasitoids if you're bored- they basically asexually reproduce during embryonic development and multiply from one egg into millions of parasitoid larvae, each with individual castes inside the body).

    @Tofystedeth heh. Actually the smallest known insect is a wasp, the Fairyfly in the family Mymaridae.

    The most famously small insect, from this family, is less than 100 microns long, which is smaller than a lot of amoebas and other single celled organisms. It's so tiny, that the wasp actually ejects the nuclei from it's neurons to save space in it's body.

  • ShivahnShivahn Unaware of her barrel shifter privilege Western coastal temptressRegistered User, Moderator mod
    Arch wrote: »
    Shivahn wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so

    Ugh. That's something I never want to image search ever again.

    I had a framed electron microscope image of an adult wasp bursting out of the body of an aphid hanging above my desk during my PhD

    Can't believe I forgot it when I graduated....

    1) do you have pictures of this? This sounds awesome. Way cooler than the parasites I run into, which are dumb.

    2) Wait, adults? I thought they generally ate the way through in a larval state, am I wrong with that? Or is it only certain clades of things?

    So, I don't have a picture because it was taken by a grad student before I got there, which is why I treasured it so much. Image searching isn't helping me too much either.

    As to the second point, it depends. Some parasitoids consume their host during the larval state, kill it, chew their way out as larvae and then pupate in soil, or somewhere else. Others instead complete their entire life cycle inside the host- they pupate and eclose inside their host, emerging as adults. Both of these strategies (and many more!) have specific names that I can't remember right now. Insect parasitoids have some of the most complex and weird diversity of lifecycles around (look up polyembryonic parasitoids if you're bored- they basically asexually reproduce during embryonic development and multiply from one egg into millions of parasitoid larvae, each with individual castes inside the body).

    Tofystedeth heh. Actually the smallest known insect is a wasp, the Fairyfly in the family Mymaridae.

    The most famously small insect, from this family, is less than 100 microns long, which is smaller than a lot of amoebas and other single celled organisms. It's so tiny, that the wasp actually ejects the nuclei from it's neurons to save space in it's body.

    It'd actually fit inside the neurons I study, @Arch, which amuses me

  • CalicaCalica Registered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    This is most likely the larvae of the Tersa Sphinx Moth (Xylophanes tersa).

    Congrats! This insect's adaptive mimicry is designed to do exactly what it just did- make you confuse it for something much scarier (i.e. a snake or a lizard).

    You can raise it on leaves in a big jar and it will either get you a nice, gigantic, fluffy moth....or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so, much like the movie Alien.

    That is a beautifully Art Deco moth!

  • NobeardNobeard North Carolina: Failed StateRegistered User regular
    Arch wrote: »
    Shivahn wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    or it has already been attacked by parasitioid wasps or flies, which will burst out of the caterpillar's body after a week or so

    Ugh. That's something I never want to image search ever again.

    I had a framed electron microscope image of an adult wasp bursting out of the body of an aphid hanging above my desk during my PhD

    Can't believe I forgot it when I graduated....

    1) do you have pictures of this? This sounds awesome. Way cooler than the parasites I run into, which are dumb.

    2) Wait, adults? I thought they generally ate the way through in a larval state, am I wrong with that? Or is it only certain clades of things?

    So, I don't have a picture because it was taken by a grad student before I got there, which is why I treasured it so much. Image searching isn't helping me too much either.

    As to the second point, it depends. Some parasitoids consume their host during the larval state, kill it, chew their way out as larvae and then pupate in soil, or somewhere else. Others instead complete their entire life cycle inside the host- they pupate and eclose inside their host, emerging as adults. Both of these strategies (and many more!) have specific names that I can't remember right now. Insect parasitoids have some of the most complex and weird diversity of lifecycles around (look up polyembryonic parasitoids if you're bored- they basically asexually reproduce during embryonic development and multiply from one egg into millions of parasitoid larvae, each with individual castes inside the body).

    @Tofystedeth heh. Actually the smallest known insect is a wasp, the Fairyfly in the family Mymaridae.

    The most famously small insect, from this family, is less than 100 microns long, which is smaller than a lot of amoebas and other single celled organisms. It's so tiny, that the wasp actually ejects the nuclei from it's neurons to save space in it's body.

    It's been a loooooong time since I came across a weird animal fact as hardcore as this. Thanks!

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