The majority of plants and animals live in areas with very unique climate conditions that allow them to survive.
But what about insects?
According to naturalist and biology enthusiast, Jessica Towne:
“Insects are also animals, but they then diverge from humans and are classified as arthropods (which means jointed legs) and then hexapods (which means six legs). The defining traits of insects are having six legs, an exoskeleton covering the body, and an adult body with three segments (the head, thorax, and abdomen). Most insects also have wings, but not all of them. So there you go, insects are animals, and they form a group called a class within the kingdom Animalia.”
Insects have incredible adaptations that make each type unique and diverse.
For instance, this strange caterpillar uses its old heads to make an elaborate hat.
The question is, why is this the case?
This caterpillar is known as the gum leaf skeletoniser with its Binomial name, Uraba lugens.
Their name derives from the caterpillars’ destructive habit of reducing the leaves of Eucalyptus gum trees to veins and mid-ribs.
Rachel shared her experience as an apprentice.
“Gumleaf skeletoniser (Uraba lugens) a common pest found on eucalypt trees! They lay their eggs in rows on top of the leaves. When the larvae eat the leaf they avoid the veins which give it the appeal of a skeleton, hence the name! This is one caterpillar we unfortunately don’t like as it can cause serious damage to a tree depending on the spread.”
They were given names by professionals.
As the caterpillar of the moth Uraba lugens grows, it sheds its exoskeleton — but instead of unloading the previous head section, it remains attached to its body, forming a strange “hat.”
This has earned it the moniker “Mad Hatterpillar,” after writer Lewis Carroll‘s Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
However, Petah Low, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Sydney, studied caterpillars for her Ph.D. and grew fond of them.
“I gave them a name,” Low says. “Unicorn Caterpillars.”
Where can you find them?
It’s native to Australia and New Zealand. The larvae are a serious pest of Eucalyptus species and relatives. The wingspan measures 25 to 30 millimeters.
In Australia, one or two generations are born each year.
This caterpillar has a one-of-a-kind headpiece — each ball is one of its old moulted heads stacked precariously on top of each other.
Before spinning a cocoon and transforming it into an adult moth, each gum leaf skeletoniser molts up to thirteen times.
Beginning with the fourth molt, the gum leaf skeletoniser keeps the headshells from their old skins and stacks them on its head.
Each empty head on the caterpillar grows larger than the last.
However, the headpiece isn’t just for show.
Alan Henderson of Minibeast Wildlife, an invertebrate resource center in Queensland, Australia said:
“The function is to protect them from predators – they use it to bat predators away.”
According to Henderson, the “hat” increases the caterpillars’ chances of survival by extending the time it takes predators to get a clear shot.
Caterpillars are a protein-rich food source for many animals.
As a result, caterpillars have developed a variety of defense mechanisms.
And gum leaf skeletoniser is just one of the caterpillar species that assembles its old headshells into an improvised piece of headgear for their protection.
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