11 September 2009

Emperor moth and caterpillar

Yesterday I was out for a walk up Ben Venue in Perthshire.

While we were walking through a rather boggy area, I met this HUGE caterpillar. It was probably about 6cm long, though I didn't measure it.

Usually, attractive caterpillars seem to end up as rather dull moths, but not this one. It is the caterpillar of the Emperor Moth (Pavonia pavonia). I had found one of these moths on the hills on 14th April 2007, and it is truly spectacular. The larger female, shown here, is not often seen because it mostly flies by night.

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