The monster within

[Prajwal J Ullal]

ID: Red pierrot caterpillar

Yet another wonder of nature, the frame of the invisible beauty, a tiny caterpillar, feasting on the leaf, from the inside. A peculiar behavior of the species, these tiny crawlers seem to prefer to stay away from the visible sight of predators and humans, where the freshly hatched babies start feasting on its host plants’ leaf, from the inside, and spends its whole growing cycle within the confines of the leaf, making it hollow from inside and leaving its excreta within the hollow space. These beauties venture out of the safe space only to hop onto the next leaf or to phase into the pupa stage.
Was surprised to spot this in the home garden, when the small growth from the leaf of bryophyllum/paanfuti, shared by Rajendra Ovalekar Sir(from his butterfly garden), already had an egg laid and the same hatched and started feasting on the 5 leaved tiny growth. Within a days’ time, it had already gobbled upon a complete leaf and had ventured into the next one, bulking up at a fast pace

EXIF:
Canon 80D
Canon 100mm macro + Extension tube
F/14
Shutterspeed 1/250
ISO 250
Handheld, LED headlamp used

Location: Thane