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Killer worm devours aquarium plants!

Started by Guest_itsme_* , Mar 17 2011 09:16 PM

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13 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_itsme_*

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Posted 17 March 2011 - 09:16 PM

Ever seen an aquatic caterpiller? I recently brought back a bunch of wild plants from Florida. Tonight I found one of them with a curious inhabitant:

smpillar04.jpg 490.32KB 3 downloads

smpillar03.jpg 199.14KB 1 downloads

smpillar02.jpg 217.11KB 1 downloads

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#2 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 17 March 2011 - 09:51 PM

Very cool! I've seen some of the little stream-dwelling caterpillars, which are not as showy as your green beasty.

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#3 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 06:41 AM

Neat! That guy looks like he could do some damage!

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#4 Guest_exasperatus2002_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 07:55 AM

Never seen anything like that before.

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#5 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 08:03 AM

Here's someone else who had this happen, and on banana plants, as well. http://www.aquaticpl...rs-my-tank.html They call it the Pyralidae family.

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#6 Guest_itsme_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 08:45 AM

Neat! That guy looks like he could do some damage!

He did! If you can see it in the first photo, we was carving down that banana plant leaf pretty quick. That's him hanging off the edge, snug in his little leaf envelope. He made it, I guess, by cutting two similarly sized pieces of leaf and then sewing them together with silk. You would never have known he was in there except for very subtle movements as he munched along the edge of the banana plant leaf he was eating. His head was invisible, at least from my viewing angle. Quite an effective cover. Of course the other obvious tell was the big chunk of missing leaf and the irregular chewed edge.

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#7 Guest_itsme_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 08:47 AM

Never seen anything like that before.

Yeah, I was surprised to see it!

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#8 Guest_itsme_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 08:51 AM

Here's someone else who had this happen, and on banana plants, as well. http://www.aquaticpl...rs-my-tank.html They call it the Pyralidae family.

Thanks! I was thinking it was a moth just because of all the hairs on it. Insects are incredible. I had pulled his leaf envelope apart to check it out. Saw the silk inside. I left him and the two pieces in a dish over night. He sewed them back together and tucked himself in! :biggrin:

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#9 Guest_gzeiger_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 09:13 AM

That's fantastic. I've seen leaves on wild plants chewed like that before, but never knew what did it (always assumed fungus). I might prefer one of those to having plants in my tank, if I could find one.

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#10 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 18 March 2011 - 09:47 AM

Thanks! I was thinking it was a moth just because of all the hairs on it. Insects are incredible. I had pulled his leaf envelope apart to check it out. Saw the silk inside. I left him and the two pieces in a dish over night. He sewed them back together and tucked himself in!

Keep him in a wet dish, and maybe you can see what kind of moth it becomes...!!

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#11 Guest_itsme_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 09:53 AM

Keep him in a wet dish, and maybe you can see what kind of moth it becomes...!!

Yeah, I was thinking of putting it on another, larger banana plant I have. I'd like to see what the adult looks like.

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#12 Guest_itsme_*

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 09:58 AM

That's fantastic. I've seen leaves on wild plants chewed like that before, but never knew what did it (always assumed fungus). I might prefer one of those to having plants in my tank, if I could find one.

Give me your address and I'll send it to you! Just take a photo of the moth when it hatches. :smile2:

I wonder where they pupate? Out of the water? That might be the tricky part :smile2:

Maybe they only eat banana plants, though. Seems like caterpillars are somewhat restricted in the host plants they will eat. Generally each species has certain plants or families that they like and nothing else.