Do Caterpillars Drink? -- My Observations of the Australian Bagmoth Caterpillar

mostly.nature (59)in #nature • 7 years ago

The caterpillar below belongs to the Psychidae family. These are also known as Case moths or Bagworms because of the protective retreats that they make for themselves. This one is a rather small species known as the Australian Bagmoth, Cebysa leucotelus.

I found this one under my car port and a long way from any food source. I decided to take it in and hopefull rear it to it's adult stage. Many books will tell you that caterpillars do not drink and that they get all the water they need from their food plants. I have reared many, many caterpillars in the past and have generally found this to be true. However I often put a couple of drops of water down just in case. I have never seen it being taken until now. On this occasion I put some water into the container and the caterpillar immediately went to the water and started drinking. In fact it spend about 5 minutes drinking. As the saying goes. "You learn something new every day".

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By the way, if you are ever rearing butterflies and moths, be careful not to have too much moisture in the rearing cage. This will lead to fungal growth and will likely kill your caterpillar.

Another name for this species is the Lichen Case Moth as they generally feed on lichens. I have been feeding this one on lichens that are growing on my apricot tree. I used a knife to shave small pieces of bark with lichen attached. The caterpillar readily accepted this as food.

The various Psychid species each have distinctive styles of making their protective case. This species seems to use all manner of detritus that it attaches to the silk case. In the next photos you can see that the caterpillar has added one of the pieces of shaved bark to is case".

I've included two older photos below. The first is to show you another view of the amazing bag like construction that the caterpillar lives in.

...and this next shot is to show you what the adult moth looks like as the caterpillar above has not yet pupated. It is a small moth but it is beautifully marked and coloured. This one is a male as the female has reduced wings and is flightless.