#77, Caterpillar that fell from the tree

Today along the canal, this poor caterpillar was found on the ground with a branch attached to its feet; I guess it fell from a tree high up because there were only tall trees nearby. Its innards were smashed out I think, so you can see the greenish stuff, its hemolymph. Believe it is the caterpillar of the Atlas Moth, one of the larger moths found in Singapore (and the Southeast Asian region).

It was actually 'passing motion/ excreting' as well... Not sure why. But it was really sad.

One of the host plants of the Atlas moth caterpillar is the Singapore cherry. Think it is found at the canal also.


Greenish innards that already are smashed out. There were greenish looking pellets found in the haemolymph Not sure what it is...


It was about 6-8 cm in length, 2cm in width.

And it was actually still alive...


The characteristic fleshy spines of the caterpillar.



Let's just hope it will survive, it is really quite a pity if it dies like that since it seems rather mature... do catepillars have regenerative powers?
After some observation, I put it back.
[Edit] Today I sawwwww a house shrew dead at the canal, plus weird birds with a tail swooping down to the canal waters... [/Edit]

2 comments:

Wai Yien said...

Eunice, you should consider buying a macro lens for the field.

Unknown said...

thanks yen for the advice and drop-by, yes i will probably be getting the 100mm 2.8 macro :))