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The Caterpillar
A caterpillar on a leaf
Reports of them having hairs that could sting so severely they could be lethal to humans is just as true as those reports that suggest that they can transform into one of the most interesting creatures humanity has ever beheld.
Nonetheless, caterpillars are considered very simple creatures that are the larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera, that is, the insect order comprising butterflies and moths.
Several of them are cryptically coloured and resemble the plants on which they feed and may even have parts that mimic plant parts such as thorns. Additionally, their size varies from as little as one millimetre to about three inches.
Most caterpillars have tubular segmented bodies and they have three pairs of true legs on their three thoracic segments, up to four pairs of pro-legs on the middle segments of the abdomen and often a single pair of pro-legs on the last abdominal segment. It must be noted though that the caterpillar has exactly 10 abdominal segments.
These interesting creatures are known to grow through a series of moults and each intermediate stage is called an instar.
And like all insects, they breathe through a series of small openings along the sides of their thorax and abdomen called spiracles that branch into the body cavity into a network of tracheae.
But then there are a few caterpillar species that are aquatic and have gills that allow them to breathe underwater.
Interesting to note too is the fact that caterpillars have about 4,000 of which 248 are located in the head alone making the 629 that humans have seem so insignificant.
It has been deduced that they are able to move through contractions of the muscles in the rear segments pushing the blood forward into the front segments elongating the torso.
Caterpillars are said to have good vision since they are outfitted with a series of six tiny eyelets or parts called ‘stemmata’ on each side of the lower portion of their head.
Based on observation, caterpillars move their heads from side to side probably as a means of judging distance of objects, particularly plants.
They are outfitted with a short antenna which they rely on to help them locate food. And they are usually voracious feeders, a feature which has led to them being considered pests in agriculture.
Many moth species are better known in their caterpillar stages because of the damage they cause to fruits and other agricultural produce.
However there are many animals that feed on caterpillars as they are rich in protein. And so in order to protect themselves some caterpillars have evolved various means of defences including the ability to detect vibrations usually at a specific frequency.
Among the more aggressive self-defence measures of the caterpillar is the use of their spiny bristles or long fine hair-like setae with detachable tips that will irritate by lodging in the skin or mucous membranes.
It is said, though, that the most aggressive defences are bristles associated with venom glands called urticating hairs and a venom among the most potent defensive chemicals in any of this insect species is produced by the South American silk moth.
Reports are that it is an anticoagulant powerful enough to cause a human to haemorrhage to death. As such the chemical is being investigated for potential medical applications.
The aggressive style of the caterpillars, however, is said to have come into being after plants begun evolving poisons to protect themselves from herbivores. As such some caterpillars have evolved countermeasures and eat the leaves of the toxic plants.
In addition to being unaffected by the poison they sequester it in their body making them highly toxic to predators.
These chemicals are carried on into the adult stages of a caterpillar’s life, thus any predator that dares to eat it becomes subjected to the aggressive defence mechanism and will in no uncertain terms learn and avoid future attempts.
In some instances, caterpillars regurgitate acidic digestive juices at attacking enemies which often yields the desired effect.
But in other cases they may prefer to simply evade their predators by using a silk line and dropping off from branches when disturbed.
However, the interesting life of the caterpillar is designed to come to an inevitable end, making way for the formation, as was mentioned earlier, for one of the most interesting creatures of the world, namely the butterfly.
But in order to find out more about the butterfly, you’ll have to check out the next issue of our Sunday Special.
(Information sourced from the Free Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia)
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