Contest 8 - 14 April "Insects...."

[Putangitangi]

It is a Puriri Moth, Aenetus virescens. They spend their caterpillar stage inside tunnels they create in large trees, feeding behind a silk and debris curtain on the cambium layer of the tree for several years. Apparently they pupate for about six months, then hatch in great numbers during rainy spring nights and that's their final fling. It was on one of those evenings the cat brought a couple of moths in and I went and caught a mostly undamaged one to pose as my model. I sat it on my office chair's cloth covering.

They're clumsy and stupid when flying into lights and land with an audible flop in the paddocks, often startling the cows when I'm out checking calving mobs with a bright torch.
A factsheet: http://nzacfactsheets.landcareresea...mProfile/Puriri_moth_-_Aenetus_virescens.html and a picture of a young caterpillar's tunnel and feeding area here: http://www.diggersvalley.co.nz/2009/Week14Nov09.htm#pmoth.

 

[hillsdown]

It is a Puriri Moth, Aenetus virescens. They spend their caterpillar stage inside tunnels they create in large trees, feeding behind a silk and debris curtain on the cambium layer of the tree for several years. Apparently they pupate for about six months, then hatch in great numbers during rainy spring nights and that's their final fling. It was on one of those evenings the cat brought a couple of moths in and I went and caught a mostly undamaged one to pose as my model. I sat it on my office chair's cloth covering.

They're clumsy and stupid when flying into lights and land with an audible flop in the paddocks, often startling the cows when I'm out checking calving mobs with a bright torch.
A factsheet: http://nzacfactsheets.landcareresea...mProfile/Puriri_moth_-_Aenetus_virescens.html and a picture of a young caterpillar's tunnel and feeding area here: http://www.diggersvalley.co.nz/2009/Week14Nov09.htm#pmoth.

That is quite the interesting little creature , thanks for sharing the link and the picture ! :tiphat:

 

[cow pollinater]

I actually got pictures of them morphing just for TexasBred but I can't get photobucket to let me upload them. :mad: It's even classy pictures of morphing since he took her out to dinner first...
Oh well, someone else will have to be the loser this time.

Email them over cp, I'll load them and send them in for you

Thank you for the offer. HD sent me a pm and got me covered but I do apriciate the offer.

 

[alisonb]

It is a Puriri Moth, Aenetus virescens. They spend their caterpillar stage inside tunnels they create in large trees, feeding behind a silk and debris curtain on the cambium layer of the tree for several years. Apparently they pupate for about six months, then hatch in great numbers during rainy spring nights and that's their final fling. It was on one of those evenings the cat brought a couple of moths in and I went and caught a mostly undamaged one to pose as my model. I sat it on my office chair's cloth covering.

They're clumsy and stupid when flying into lights and land with an audible flop in the paddocks, often startling the cows when I'm out checking calving mobs with a bright torch.
A factsheet: http://nzacfactsheets.landcareresea...mProfile/Puriri_moth_-_Aenetus_virescens.html and a picture of a young caterpillar's tunnel and feeding area here: http://www.diggersvalley.co.nz/2009/Week14Nov09.htm#pmoth.

That is quite the interesting little creature , thanks for sharing the link and the picture ! :tiphat:

Yes, thanks. They look like they can be quite destructive. Love your site, interesting!

 

[Putangitangi]

It is a Puriri Moth, Aenetus virescens. They spend their caterpillar stage inside tunnels they create in large trees, feeding behind a silk and debris curtain on the cambium layer of the tree for several years. Apparently they pupate for about six months, then hatch in great numbers during rainy spring nights and that's their final fling. It was on one of those evenings the cat brought a couple of moths in and I went and caught a mostly undamaged one to pose as my model. I sat it on my office chair's cloth covering.

They're clumsy and stupid when flying into lights and land with an audible flop in the paddocks, often startling the cows when I'm out checking calving mobs with a bright torch.
A factsheet: http://nzacfactsheets.landcareresea...mProfile/Puriri_moth_-_Aenetus_virescens.html and a picture of a young caterpillar's tunnel and feeding area here: http://www.diggersvalley.co.nz/2009/Week14Nov09.htm#pmoth.

That is quite the interesting little creature , thanks for sharing the link and the picture ! :tiphat:

Yes, thanks. They look like they can be quite destructive. Love your site, interesting!

Thank you. :)
The caterpillars primarily live in native hardwood trees. The farmers who cleared these areas used to say that the best strainer/fence posts came from the Puriri trees the caterpillars had used; they must indicate something about the quality of that timber. Some of the trees are obviously more popular than others, with obvious scars all the way up their trunks, while some neighboring trees remain mostly unscarred. I like the moths and the trees a great deal.