8 votes

Hawaiian caterpillar patrols spiderwebs camouflaged in insect prey’s body parts

4 comments

  1. [2]
    ShroudedScribe
    Link
    This is a neat discovery. Are there any other animals that exhibit this type of behavior?

    This is a neat discovery. Are there any other animals that exhibit this type of behavior?

    3 votes
    1. chocobean
      Link Parent
      I wasn't sure how to parse the article title, but was delighted to read about these little fellas. Maybe decorator crabs? (Wiki)

      I wasn't sure how to parse the article title, but was delighted to read about these little fellas.

      When decorating their silken portable cases, the caterpillars are particular. Body parts are carefully measured for size before the caterpillar weaves them into its collection. Each prospective new addition is rotated and probed with its mandibles several times, and parts that are too large are chewed down to a size that will fit its case. If denied access to arthropod body parts in captivity, the caterpillars do not accept other bits of detritus, suggesting that they recognize and exclusively use corpses in nature and that this decoration is important to their survival.

      Maybe decorator crabs? (Wiki)

      When H. araneus specimens were moved from an environment where all the crabs were camouflaged with short pieces of seaweed into different environments, all of them had redecorated themselves with local materials after one night. One was among corallines, and was covered with a dense bush of the Sertularia abietina (a hydrozoan). Another was on small shells and gravel, and was decorated with those. A third was among the Antedon rosaceus (a crinoid), and had broken off pieces of crinoid arms as decoration.[5]

  2. [2]
    Grenno
    Link
    I look forward to this creature design in some future horror movie.

    I look forward to this creature design in some future horror movie.

    2 votes
    1. chocobean
      Link Parent
      Reavers from the Firefly universe 'decorate' their ship using parts of the victims: "If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing – and if...

      Reavers from the Firefly universe 'decorate' their ship using parts of the victims: "If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing – and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

      1 vote