Beauty Stings #2 - The Wattle Cup Caterpillar

Welcome to another post of my strange animals series where you get to meet some of the weirdest, coolest, and craziest animals on a daily basis!

Remember the post I made last week on the colorful stinging rose moth caterpillar? Today, I discovered another toxic, rainbow-colored larva and to be honest I think this one looks even more impressive. Just have a look at these sexy photos:

(Credit)

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Scientifically described as Calcarifera ordinata, the common name this beautiful creature comes by is Wattle Cup moth caterpillar. Wonder how it looks when it finally transforms into a moth? 

Well.. boring is a fitting word to describe it I think:

Male wattle cup moth (credit)

If you are a follower of mine, you know I love sharing extensive info about the animals I post. In this case, I scoured the web trying to find as much info as I could about this critter but unfortunately, I came up with almost nothing and the little I found is either anecdotal or not referenced properly. If you know anything about this animal or you can point me to something I missed please be a good lad and help by leaving a comment!

So, here's the little info I found about this animal, take it with a grain of salt:

• Distribution: The species is widespread in northern Australia, south to Geraldton, Alice Springs and Brisbane. [1]
• Morphology:  The caterpillars are brightly colored greenish-yellow and their body is covered by tubercles. They have a red dorsal stripe with a broad blue edging, and a blue band with red patches along each side. The legs are reduced and they move using a slug-like movement of the underside of the body. The cocoon is formed on a leaf. It is spun out of silk in a small sphere, then covered in a liquid that sets like a tiny cricket ball. Adults are creamy brown with lines of dots on the forewings and have a wingspan of about 30 mm. [1,3]
• Diet: Caterpillars feed on Date Palms, various Wattles , Dogwood, Ribbon Pea, Roses, Orange Trees and Whitewood. [3]
• Sting: The colors of the caterpillar are a form of aposematism. Essentially, the creature screams "Don't eat me, I am poisonous!" warning any hungry potential predators. The sting is very potent, described as being "worse than three wasp stings". [1]

Since this is an information-wise poor post, please allow me to compensate you with some more photos of this incredible creature. See you tomorrow in my next strange animals post! 

Enjoy:

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References

1. Wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcarifera_ordinata
2. Brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_loopers/WattleCup.htm
3. Lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/lima/ordinat.html

                    

My dear readers, thank you for reading today's article. Hopefully, you found it interesting enough to follow me, @trumpman, especially if you want to discover more weird and bizarre creatures from all around the word!  Here are the last 5 weirdos of this series:

1. Leptodirus hochenwartii: The First Cave-Dwelling Animal Ever Discovered
2. Paedophryne amauensis: Meet the World's Smallest Frog
3. The King of Herrings: Horrifying, yet Harmless
4. Slimy Jewels: 11+1 Nudibranchs That Will Blow Your Mind
5. Cebrennus rechenbergi: The Spider That Wanted To Be A Gymnast

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