Hyposmocoma molluscivora (a type of snail) snail-eating caterpillar

Taxonomy & nomenclature

Images

Snail-feeding Hawaiian caterpillars
Images of snail-feeding caterpillars from Hawaii are presented here.

Distribution

In the news

Caterpillar spins a web to feast on snails   
Researchers in Hawaii have discovered a bizarre caterpillar that captures its prey -- usually snails -- in a web much like a spider's. Then the caterpillar feasts on escargot. (All Things Considered, July 22, 2005)

Web-Spinning Caterpillar Stalks Snails   
"Moths and butterflies compose one of the most diverse insect orders, but they are overwhelmingly herbivorous. Less than 0.2% are specialized predators, indicating that lepidopteran feeding habits are highly constrained. We report a Hawaiian caterpillar that specializes on snails, a unique food source requiring an unusual feeding strategy. The caterpillar uses silk to restrain live prey. All caterpillars have silk glands, but none are known to use silk in this spiderlike fashion. Considering the canalization of caterpillar diets, evolution to attack and feed on snails is an anomaly. Hawaii s isolation and consequently disharmonic biota likely promote evolutionary experiments that occur nowhere else." (This text is the article's abstract.)

Other resources

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The template for this page was created on 15 March 2004 by EMS, and was last updated on 20 February 2006 by PT. The content of this page was last regenerated on (or after) 28 March 2008 by PT.