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Fletcher Wildlife Garden | all galleries >> Galleries >> Moth Caterpillars > Parsnip webworm caterpillar (Depressaria pastinacella), #0922
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07-JUL-2010 Christine Hanrahan

Parsnip webworm caterpillar (Depressaria pastinacella), #0922

This small caterpillar was on a wild parsley (Pastinaca sativa) plant. There were perhaps 6 of them, each in their own little web cases made in the flower heads. According to information I read, this species was accidentally introduced from Europe to NA and first noticed about 1869. Apparently, "they feed exclusively on a handful of furanocoumarin-containing hosts, including wild parsnip and several species of Heracleum."

Wouldn't it be interesting if they could be used to control the Giant hogweed, a Heracleum species, that is so worrying people at the moment!

Canon PowerShot SX10 IS
1/320s f/3.5 at 5.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
Don14-Feb-2016 20:07
Striking!
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