#Leaf skeletonizer moth

[jupiterswasphouse]

[PHOTOS TAKEN: MAY 11TH, 2024 | Image IDs: Three photos of an orange and black, orange-patched smoky moth on a rusted and dirty metal surface /End IDs.]

[themesopelagiczone]

meet the gum-leaf skeletonizer (Uraba lugens), which is a caterpillar that stacks its old moulted heads on top of its current head! it's also known as the mad hatterpillar. they use their heads as a defence mechanism, and they can stack up to six or seven heads!

newscientist | newsweek | bbc science focus

photos: alan henderson (minibeast wildlife au) | alan henderson

[deepermadness]

Some flyers from my garden! How many do you recognise?

- - -

[All photos taken by me, DeeperMadness, on a Sony Xperia 1 IV]

[chlorophyll-and-chitin]

Uraba lugens

05-NOV-2022

Melbourne, Vic

[rattyexplores]

16/11/23 Photos 1-2 - Raise 1, adult specimen

21/11/23 Photos 3-4 - Raise 2, adult specimens frozen for future study

The raising of Epimarptid moths, seemingly the first iNaturalist observations in Australia.

Recently I've become interested in Gelechioidea, whose caterpillars are typically small, unknown, and in desperate need of rearing. Larval behavior varies greatly in this superfamily, with case-bearers in the Hemibela genus to Pyroderces terminella which has been reported feeding on spider eggs (Common & Slater 1990).

However, sometimes a caterpillar can be found feeding on a simple garden weed, as is the case here. These Epimarptid moths (species unidentified) were discovered on the annoying garden weed, Commelina diffusa, in which the caterpillars fed beneath strange silky shelters until the vine's leaves are completely skeletonized.

09/11/23 Photos 5-6 - Caterpillar outside of silk shelter

08/11/23 Photos 7-10 - Silk shelters created by caterpillars

As you can see, the caterpillars are very small (~2mm), along with their silk shelters (~2mm-1cm). The strange tear-drop shaped silk shelters were always positioned in the centre of the leaf, with the shelter growing into a large shapeless mass as the caterpillar develops. Leaf damage was typically seen around the shelter, rather than beneath it, so perhaps the caterpillars stuck their heads out of the shelter to feed.

08/11/23 Photos 11-12 - Cocoons made by caterpillars

Though I attempted to raise the species from its larval stage, in captivity the caterpillars left their silk shelters and refused to feed on the leaves (as seen in photos 5-6). I instead resorted to finding a pupa and bringing it into captivity instead.

The cocoons are tube-shaped structures with surrounding silk and leaf eaten away. The cocoons were positioned on the opposite side of the leaf to the original silk shelter. It took about 8 days for the cocoon in photos 11-12 to hatch.

After the first successful hatching (photos 1-2), I took more cocoons into captivity, and froze the moths which hatched out for future taxonomic study (photos 3-4).

16/11/23 Photos 13-14 - Cocoons collected for collecting and freezing of moths

It is indeed possible for two caterpillars to feed on the same leaf, forming separate silk shelters as seen in photos 7-8. Likewise, the cocoons collected for specimen freezing were found side by side.

03/11/23 Photos 15-16 - Commelina diffusa, hostplant of raise 1 specimens

30/10/23 Photos 17-18 - Commelina sp., hostplant of raise 2 specimens

The Commelina vines in which the caterpillars fed have been reaping havoc in our garden, climbing over other plants and forming dense vine thickets. With the large amount of this vine, there is an equally large amount of these caterpillars, so if the frozen specimens become damaged in some way (unlikely), I can at least collect more.

Will continue to rear caterpillars in the future.

*To be clear, I do not like killing specimens, and only do so when they are of importance or needed for study.

----------------------------------------------------------

References

Common, IFB, Slater, Ederic 1990, Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, Carlton.

Further reading on Epimarptidae if interested:

Kim, S Lee, S 2016, 'First record of family Epimarptidae Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea) from Korea, with newly recorded species', Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity, vol. 9, no. 4.

08-21/11/23 - Epimarptidae sp., hostplant: Commelina spp.

QLD:WET

[weirdanimal-tournament]

THE COMPETITORS

After hours of filtering, I have a list! From 411 submisstions to 134 competitors. Of course, that means that not all the submissions are competing. My main rule for filtering was that when many similar animals were submitted, one was selected. This means that even if your submission din't get in, there is likely somthing else similar you can vote for instead! I'm hoping to get the polls out this Saturday or Sunday, and I'll post the time once it's decided. That being said... here's the list!

Mouse deer

Blanket octopus

Twenty plume moth

Anomalocaris

Caecilian

Bagworm moth caterpillars

Balaenognathus

Banded archerfish

Barnacle

Barreleye fish

Tripod fish

Bigfin squid

Bilby

Black sea hare

Black snub nosed monkey

Blobfish

Blue sea dragon 

Nano-chameleon

Bush brown caterpillar

Chinese water deer

Maned wolf

Colugo

Common spotted cuscus

Corpse Assassin Bug

Messmate pipefish

Cotylorhynchus

creatonotos gangis

Tongue eating louse

Ganges river dolphin 

ghost pipefish

Giant Anteater

Giant gippsland earthworm

Giant tube worm

Giraffe Weevil

Glowworms

Goblin shark

Golden mole

Green-banded broodsac

Greenland shark

Gum leaf skeletonizer caterpillars

Hagfish

Hallucigenia

Hammer head bat

Helicoprion

Honduran white bat

Short horned lizard

Green hydra

Jerboa

Jerusalem cricket

Lamprey

Largetooth sawfish

Bulwer’s pheasant

Lowland Streaked Tenrec

Lyrebird

Marbled polecat

Mata mata

Mexican mole lizard

Ghost faced bat

Mudskipper

Muntjac

Naked bulldog bat

Naked mole rat

Phillipene tube nosed fruit bat

Oarfish 

Mantis shrimp

Ogre faced spider

Okapi

platypus

Pangolin

Parrot fish

Partridge bug

Pelican eel

Asian giant softshell turtle

Pink fairy armadillo

Pipa pipa

Platybelodon

Portuguese Man O War

Potoos

Predatory tunicate

Pufferfish

Sea spider

Red lipped batfish

Bowmouth guitarfish

Roseate spoonbill

Pink iguana

Royal albatross

Sage grouse

Saiga antelope

Sailfin dragon

Volcano snail

Schaefer’s anglerfish

Sea cucumber

Sea pig

Sea sheep

Sharovipteryx

Echidna

Assassin spider

Spider tailed viper

Siphonophore

Solenodon

Spectral bat

Spix’s disc winged bat

Spotted wobbegong

Stalk-eyed fly

Stoplight loosejaw

Giant phantom jelly

Sunfish

Sword billed hummingbird

Tailless whip scorpion 

Tapir 

Tardigrade

Tarsier

Telescopefish

Woodcock

Aye-aye

Bobbit worm

Nautilus

Glass frog

Immortal jellyfish

Olm

Mirror spider

Trilobite Beetle

Trumpetfish

Vampire bat

Vampire squid

Velvetworm

Wonderfish

Wrinkle-faced bat

[sodaf]

love when you see a bug on a grape leaf and you're like "wow what is that" and look it up and it's a "grapeleaf skeletonizer moth". like hell yeah he sure does belong on that grape leaf. also sick name

[lostinthewoods1991]

Three Poems on Loss

1) Dear Minnie, Dear Ms. By Aracelis Girmay

This earth of the dagger-toothed & hawks, whose names we know, taking bones for diamonds, full of hair & snakes, earth eating you, slowly, below the sound of gold horns.

This earth with a jaw in its hand. Brown-chariot, take-you-home earth, chew you up with the quiet work of animals & trees, underworld churning you through the dark engines of its appetite. This earth we opened up & buried you in, our treasure, we miss you, we miss you with all life. This night we think we will never close again. We are pinned open like a scientist’s moths to leave you there dressed in a box & earth around you. This box earth, coffin earth. Teeth earth eat your chest through, laced by the wrangle of beetles & worms & ants who carry your bright pieces like market cloth over their heads to feed you to the queen in the deeper corridors of mysteries & dirt.

Trust the queen is you.

Trust the mud is you, & the soft, silver afro of the dandelion.

Trust the grass-whistle might be your speech, high as the whistle of the whale. Trust we��ll know your shape, whatever species in you answers when we put our faces to the dirt & call you by your old & human name.

2) Miss you. Would like to take a walk with you. By Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Do not care if  you just arrive in your skeleton. Would love to take a walk with you. Miss you. Would love to make you shrimp saganaki. Like you used to make me when you were alive. Love to feed you. Sit over steaming bowls of pilaf. Little roasted tomatoes covered in pepper and nutmeg. Miss you. Would love to walk to the post office with you. Bring the ghost dog. We’ll walk past the waterfall and you can tell me about the after. Wish you. Wish you would come back for a while. Don’t even need to bring your skin sack. I’ll know you. I know you will know me even though. I’m bigger now. Grayer. I’ll show you my garden. I’d like to hop in the leaf pile you raked but if you want to jump in? I’ll rake it for you. Miss you standing looking out at the river with your rake in your hand. Miss you in your puffy blue jacket. They’re hip now. I can bring you a new one if you’ll only come by. Know I told you it was okay to go. Know I told you it was okay to leave me. Why’d you believe me? You always believed me. Wish you would come back so we could talk about truth. Miss you. Wish you would walk through my door. Stare out from the mirror. Come through the pipes.

3) Separation By W.S.Merwin

Your absence has gone through me Like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color.

[lopingnmoping]

-portal-

finger to my kneecap

i start tracing

wrist

collarbone

forearm

cheek

jaw

throat

knocking at the door

hoping she’ll hear

coax out the gal who sits buried somewhere deep in her meaty tower, who mourns and craves yet hides and wails

invite her out

to sit

and look

at skeleton of leaf

flutter of moth

snaking of root

hear dying leaves tapping against one another, it’s almost funny, those gentle golf claps

passing hikers babble just feet from us on the trail but we’d sit unseen

secret and safe

in a square foot of our own personal forest

Come, Self.

i miss thee.

we make good company you and i.

I’m sorry I forget.

But I’m here now.

Knock knock.

[jupiterswasphouse]

[PHOTOS TAKEN: MAY 9TH, 2024 | Image IDs: Four photos of two orange and black, orange-patched smoky moths mating on top of a stick, the wings of the male covering the majority of the female /End IDs.]

[amandi-mga2024mi5019]

Reworked Concepts

I reworked my overarching concept to cover butterflies, moths, beetles, and dragonflies (basically flying insects).

Blue hat - Paper cutout Animation

Title sequence - colourful cutout animation with layers of circles on top of one another, creating a tunnel of sorts. each of the circles will be moving in alternative directions and feature imagery of the bugs I will be focusing on. I want the movement to create a zoetrope-like effect. The animation will start with a zoom in into the 'tunnel' and then in the center the title will appear.

title - "Flying Insects"(?)

Red hat - 2D (Digital/Traditional)

Mortality and the human soul

2d (watercolour?) animation which features the metamorphosis of a person turning into a moth. I want to focus on the cycle of life and death and how people have related their own cycle of life to the metamorphosis of moths and butterflies.

In addition, the use of the moth specifically is important as they are often symbolic of death and are some of the insects that decompose carrion.

If I am doing watercolour, I want to try doing it in a similar way to charcoal animation - one painting constantly changing.

Metamorphosis and the human soul

Person opening their brain to reveal a moth/butterfly.

Person opening their upper torso to reveal a moth/butterfly living inside. We see the person begin to break down into just a skeleton, and as they do, the young butterfly/moth grows from a caterpillar into a fully fledged adult and flies away.

Metamorphosis and the human soul

2D animation - human in an egg, hatching, and then growing up while it sits on a leaf. We see the season change behind them. Cut to them old and sleepily getting into a cocoon. Match cut to a new season and then we see a butterfly emerge.

Metamorphosis and the human soul

A digital 2D recreation of the Truman Show staircase scene but with a large flying butterfly in the background of the character, almost appearing painted onto the wall. When the character leaves through the door, so does the image of the butterfly.

This is meant to represent the death of the character, and how in death they are ascending into a new reality (perhaps a better one even?). The butterfly represents their soul, now a fully fledged adult ready to take on the afterlife.

White Hat - After Effects 2D animation

Showcase the large number of flying insects. Will start with a close up of a few bugs. pan out to show several bugs all moving around. when panned out, the bugs are represented through circles. A panel appears showing 2 million - the number of different species of flying insects.

Yellow hat - Stop Motion

Insects as decomposers

Features a large dung beetle god. He is seen taking a clump of clay and shaping it into our planet. This is meant to represent how beetles are primary decomposers of the ecosystem, and as a result, they are what keep the planet alive and running. They are invaluable in transferring energy and providing new life for the planet to continuously grow and regrow.

The planet could start turning to mush every time it stops shaping it, and as a result the beetle god must keep shaping and reshaping the world anew. This signifies how insects break down dead matter and repurposes it into something new or as nutrients for living creatures.

Insects bring meaning to death; repurposes it back to grow new life. Its a transfer of energy (quite literally). Nothing truly dies, but is instead made anew. As a result, I thought it fitting to liken the dung beetle to a god of sorts - its' constant work decomposing matter brings meaning to both one's life and death, the same way a creation myth would.

In addition, dung beetles have been used in Ancient Egypt as representative of the afterlife and an explanation for the way the natural world works, which I think makes the imagery of the beetle being a 'god' even more fitting.

Visually, the beetle would actually be based off of a mixture of dung beetles, goliath beetles, and Hercules beetles.

Black hat - (?)

Butterflies as pests/invasive species and a threat to some native flora

Video game layout. We're in the POV of someone playing those retro arcade games or those old 2000s computer games. In the game, you're a cabbage worm (caterpillar of the Cabbage White butterfly), and your job is to eat as many different types of plants/crops as possible. Item descriptions tell the 'player' what species they are eating. Each of these species are used in agriculture as crops and are often destroyed by cabbage worms. At the end of the animation, the player unlocks a new achievement: "Farmland Destroyed. Well Done!"

Green Hat - Claymation

Biomimicry

After receiving feedback from my tutors, I decided to use this concept for the green hat, as it provides an example of how insects have been used to solve real world human problems and drive innovation. The animation will focus on how dragonflies have been the source of inspiration for biomimicry that helped develop the helicopter.

Spilt layered claymation featuring a dragonfly on a water reed. In the background we see the calm shallow stream where it lives. Its wings start spinning like helicopter propellers and it takes off.

I want to experiment with using smear frames in clay-mation to create the swift motion of the 'propellor wings.' The sound design will be that of a helicopter taking off to further reiterate the use of dragonflies as biomimicry for helicopters.

[chaya-mga2022mi5019]

Clip1 ver 3 - Further Experimenting

Out of the leaves I collected, I noticed these two brown leaves that had half their skeleton exposed, which I thought was really fascinating. So I wanted to make another version of my animation with these skeletonized leaves as the main focus.

Also, fun fact:

Skeletonized leaves and camouflaged insects share a fascinating ecological relationship. Leaf-mining insects, like certain types of moths and beetles, are the primary architects of skeletonized leaves. They tunnel between the leaf's upper and lower surfaces, leaving behind a delicate, lacy network of veins.

Some bodies of camouflaged insects mimic this intricate patterns and textures left behind by leaf-mining insects. This mimicry effectively transforms them into "living" skeletonized leaves.

When real leaf-mining insects come across these camouflaged insects, they recognize them as part of their habitat due to their striking resemblance. This can lead leaf-mining insects to be less aware of their camouflaged predator, creating an opportunity for the camouflaged insect to approach their prey without raising suspicion.

.

.

Positioning of the leaves for the animation:

[magnoliasandbeardedtooth]

Lelwel hartebeest. who the fuck designed this thing

Rufous-tailed plantcutter

Olinguito

Margay

Cynipid wasp galls

Whatever the hell kind of sea cucumber this is

Mecistogaster marginata

Capuchinbird

Temminck's and cabot's tragopan

Green-leaf worm

Pademelon

New world vultures can bring their collar feathers up around their bald neck when it rains or gets cold!!!

The inner mouth inside of a large parrot's beak

Quetzal

Coucal

Dracula parrot

Headless chicken fish

Terrible Claw Lobster. thats just what its called

Fin whale, second largest motherfucker to ever exist

Flying gurnard

Sea robin

Another plant, a pitcher plant, Nepenthes lowii, that when mature has a symbiotic relationship with tree shrews, in which they lure and feed them to catch their feces

The different types of quills on a porcupine, including a rattle!!

Varied bunting

By-the-wind sailor

Woolly chafer beetle

Lappet moths

Yellow-backed Duiker

Lesser green broadbill

Seed shrimp

Panda skeleton sea squirt

Hoatzin

Crab-eating raccoons

Gharials

Tomistomas

Campeche spiny-tailed iguana

animals that are extremely cool but I only found out about by chance because every single animal program and article focuses on famous animals like tigers and polar bears and eye-eyes:

Civet

Aardwolf

Cloud rat

Binturong

Painted dogs

Takin

Oarfish

Dik-dik

Mouse deer

I checked and dik-diks and the mouse deer are different

Honestly any deer that isn’t white tail, red, reindeer, elk, or moose

Like that striped deer, the lowland nyala???? especially the females???? fantastic

that fanged deer?????? HELL yeah

King vulture

Numbat

Bearded vulture

Bush dog

feel free to add, I will when I stumble on super cool unknown animals

[onenicebugperday]

Skeleton leaf moth, Krananda lucidaria, Geometridae

Found in Western and Southern China, Northern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo

Photos by wkcheng71 (1), budak (2), sandralamberts (3), Alexey Yakovlev (4), and martinmandak (5)

[randimoth]

Skullcap skeletoniser moth (Prochoreutis inflatella). A completely metal-looking name, and the moths themselves are incredible as well. The 'skullcap' part comes from one of the plants that they commonly feed for: Scutellaria lateriflora, which has a variety of common names that involve skullcaps (such as Blue skullcap or American skullcap). 'Skeletoniser' is a biological term that means a moth whose larvae eat the cell tissue of the plant, leaving the skeleton behind. For example, eating the green parts of the leaf, leaving the white parts connecting it to the stem intact.

[fucknofortunato]

Don't know how I missed this for so long but I love just about all of these

Iron-On Patches

Seventh Ink on Etsy