Why do caterpillars have so many legs?
If you watch a caterpillar walking and eating you will see that it needs all its legs just to move around. The front three pairs will become the adult legs. The rest, usually five pairs, (if you find one with more than five pairs then it is a sawfly larvae; Hymenoptera and not a Lepidopteran), are very useful to the caterpillar because they allow the middle and back-end of the caterpillar to hold onto the leaf or twig while the front part tries to work out where to go next. They also make it harder for a bird to pull the caterpillar off whatever it is eating. Some caterpillars which bore into wood or live inside a leaf have no legs at all. If you really want to know why watch a caterpillar walk.
Location : Malaysia
The Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana javana) Carterpillar
The Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana javana) Butterfly
This is a painted pine moth caterpillar, also called a cocoa tussock moth or white-spotted tussock moth.
Just as sphinx moth caterpillars can be recognized by their tail, so tussock moth caterpillars can be recognized by the tufts of hair on their back, in this case an attractive yellow color.
The Painted Pine Moth
Nolid Moth Carterpillar
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