Israel Insect World

This caterpillar was photographed on Acacia saligna (שיטה כחלחלה) on the Southern bank of the Yarkon river near Hadar Yosef. Can anyone identify it for me?

Thanks.

Dror
Open an album in Tapuz and link the photos from there
use the link of the enlarge photo (open in a new windows)
simple and fast

Amir

Thanks, Amir. I tried to use Rapid Share - but eventually it didn't work. I will try later as you suggested.

I appreciate the patience of the forum's participants for my web clumsiness.

Thanks again.

Here it is: Caterpillar on Acacia saligna, Yarkon River , 12.12.08

Hi Dror,

This is a lovely photo of a beautiful unknown sp for me.

I can give you only the family but nothing beyond that.

I always suggest people to take one larve home and raise it on the leaves of the hostplant  so we can all learn. There are more than a few hundreds species of moths in Israel that their life history is not known so everytime we have the chance of rearing these unknown larvae its a good opportunity for learning something new and connect between the larva ("zachal") and its adult moth. Taking 1-3 larvae has no impact on nature at all but what we can learn sometimes can be very important for conservation, agriculture or a better understanding of the biodiversity.

Thanks, Oz. I bet on PYRALIDAE. Is ther a chance I am right?

Hi Dror,

Pyralidae larvae are much less hairy and tend to the green color.

I think it belongs to the family Lymantridae.

The larva you photographed is very similar to other species in this family (you can run the family name in Google (and then images) and you will see very similar larvae. I wonder what the adult moth looks like..

Dear all, this is my first post and I am going to write on a field a bit unusual for me (I'm mainly after beetles).

However, the caterpillar posted by Dror is identic to that of the European Acronicta rumicis (Noctuidae). I don't know if there are other similar species in Israel, but among european Acronicta the larvae are very different each other.

Oz was indeed right in saying that the habitus remind of Lymantriidae

Thank you, Marco. It seems indeed very similar. Since Acronicta rumicis  (in Hebrew: Tinshamit Hachum-ah) is included in Israel's fauna (see link from Hebrew Vikipedia) it is probably this species.

This is the Vikipedia link:

http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%AA%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D

Dear Marco, Thank you very much for your note. I'm happy you finally managed to overcome the login problem. Welcome abroad!