Jewel Caterpillar – The World’s Most Stunning Caterpillar

Ecologist Daniel Janzen and his colleagues are creating an inventory of caterpillars with around 40,000 caterpillars collected each year. However, only about 20 of those specimens will be the world’s most gorgeous caterpillars, known as jewel caterpillar. A jewel caterpillar is so beautiful that you might want to wrap it in a gold chain and then wear it around your neck.

The jewel caterpillar is from the Dalceridae family. At the moment, there is little information about the species, from its caterpillar stage to its adult counterpart.

In pictures, the creature may look sizable, however, jewel caterpillars are in fact tiny. They are about half an inch long, making it really hard to spot them. Moreover, they are speedy. Once you take your eyes off them, they can get away from you.

What does a jewel caterpillar turn into you may ask? They will turn into moths. They have a fantastical body, underneath the glassy goop, you will notice that there are spikes coming out of the cuticle of the caterpillar. Those are fragile and can easily be detached. When you break one off and squish it between your fingers, it will turn really gooey and moist, just like Jell-O. But when you touch the caterpillar, its surface is actually not wet.

The breathtaking jewel caterpillar turns into a fuzzy orange moth that is native to Costa Rica, Mexico, and several Caribbean islands. The tiny body of the creature remains slightly toxic. The body of the caterpillar has a gelatinous consistency despite its glass-like appearance. So far, most of these creatures have all been discovered in the mangrove forests of Central America and South America. From afar, the animal looks just like the leaves of the red mangrove tree.

These detachable spikes and the goo are supposed to be an anti-predator defense. According to Janzen, when a wasp or an ant or anything grabs the caterpillar, instead of the creature, the predator will get those spikes in its mouth. It is unclear whether the goo is toxic or not but it can gum up an attacking ant’s mandibles.

This is probably to buy the caterpillar time. When the predator becomes distracted, the caterpillar can escape, even by dropping off the leaf. Janzen explains that it is like someone was trying to grab you but got your shirt instead.

So what about this predator-prey interaction? Back in the ‘90s, entomologist Marc Epstein as well as other researchers exposed these creatures to ants and they got some hilarious results.

Most of the time, the ants got close to the caterpillar to inspect them with their antennae and then moved along. However, there were a few that would take a bike but got a mouthful of goop. Some would get stuck to the caterpillar.

Apparently, for jewel caterpillars, this is an effective defense as they often meander out on the tops of the leaves. Meanwhiles, those caterpillars without defenses are often on the undersides.

The jewel caterpillars, interestingly, has the limacodids as their close relatives. The limacodids have a different countermeasure using stinging spines. Compared to jewel caterpillars, they are slower. However, they can devastate their enemies. So they aren’t in a hurry to escape.

The problem with caterpillars is that being a slow creature isn’t ideal for survival. So caterpillars often hide on the undersides of leaves. Those with countermeasures in hand can go out into the open. However, it seems like the jewel caterpillar's impenetrable defense has its weakness. We have the parasitic tachinid fly’s maggot. Just like mammalian predators that would attack a porcupine’s underside by flipping it over, the maggot probably drills through the caterpillar's unprotected belly by getting under it. The caterpillar keeps putting on more weight. And there will be more food for the invader.

Jewel Caterpillar Images

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