Birds Beware --- Dangerous Spurge Hawkmoth caterpillar !

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Gottshotz

Gottshotz

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This Spurge Hawkmoth caterpillar doesn't bother with camo and munches away in plain sight --- the red and black colouring is a dead giveway, and declares "I am poisonous to eat ".
Black and red, and black and yellow colours, usually in a hooped pattern have frequently evolved in the insect world to warn predators that they distasteful, or carry toxins, which can debilitate the aggressor --- young birds often learn the hard way !! In this case the poison comes from the caterpillar's foodplant, various species of Euphorbia (Spurge) which has a milky, sticky sap which can give humans very nasty infections if it gets near the eyes ! The adult moth, below, doesn't inherit these toxins, so it has probably evolved as a mechanism to get as many caterpillars as possible through this normally vulnerable stage, to adulthood. D60 with 18-55mm. @50mm. ISO 180, f5.6, 1/125 Sec.. Handheld.

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This shot taken with D7000 and 18-55mm. @ 55mm. ISO 800, f6.3, 1/640 Sec. Handheld.
Both the caterpillar and the moth are Spanish, in this case from my property near Valencia, but it is a widespread species in the Northern Hemisphere and is relatively common in the UK too.
 
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Gongster said:
Super shots David, how refreshing to see them both as well!
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Thanks again Mike, I really must try the stacking technique as it is so difficult to get insects into full focus of all their "bits" even when resting, like the Hawkmoth here .
 
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