{"id":1217,"date":"2011-10-07T15:10:29","date_gmt":"2011-10-08T01:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/?p=1217"},"modified":"2011-10-07T15:16:07","modified_gmt":"2011-10-08T01:16:07","slug":"colorful-caterpillar-of-a-lirimiris-truncata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/2011\/10\/07\/colorful-caterpillar-of-a-lirimiris-truncata\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorful Caterpillar of a Lirimiris truncata"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The moth <em>Lirimiris truncata<\/em> is a member of the mostly tropical Prominent Moth Family (Notodontidae), and here in the United States, these moths are found only in the southernmost part of Arizona. I observed this colorful <em>Lirimiris truncata<\/em> caterpillar in <a href=\"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/2007\/08\/19\/varied-buntings-in-agua-caliente-canyon\/\">Agua Caliente Canyon<\/a> in the Santa Rita Mountains.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/images\/firefly\/2011\/October\/Lirimiris-truncata-larva.jpg\" alt=\"Colorful caterpillar of a Lirimiris truncata on a Thurber's Cotton (Gossypium thurberi) leaf\" title=\"Colorful caterpillar of a Lirimiris truncata on a Thurber's Cotton (Gossypium thurberi) leaf\" width=\"480\" height=\"369\" class=\"post-photo\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Lirimiris truncata<\/em> caterpillars are bright yellow and tiger-striped with black and white, and they have a few patches of white bristles, a red head, and an even larger red tail hump. This large tail hump might function as a false head meant to divert predators&#8217; attacks away from the more vulnerable actual head.<\/p>\n<p>The garish coloration of <em>Lirimiris truncata<\/em> caterpillars makes them highly visible to birds and other predators, but these caterpillars&#8217; bold yellow, red, and black colors are actually a universally recognized type of aposematic (warning) coloration meant to warn away potential predators. I don&#8217;t know if these caterpillars are actually poisonous or noxious, but many caterpillars in the same family have chemical defenses and can spray foul-smelling, irritating, or toxic fluids if disturbed. Noting this caterpillar&#8217;s bright warning colors, I didn&#8217;t try handling it.<\/p>\n<p><em>Lirimiris truncata<\/em> caterpillars feed on the leaves of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fireflyforest.com\/flowers\/1179\/gossypium-thurberi-thurbers-cotton\/\">Thurber&#8217;s Cotton (<em>Gossypium thurberi<\/em>)<\/a>, and if you wish to see these unusual caterpillars, look for them on these plants in August and September.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike their colorful caterpillars, <a href=\"http:\/\/bugguide.net\/node\/view\/210617\">adult <em>Lirimiris truncata<\/em> moths<\/a> are quite drably colored. The adults have a large, plump, brown body, grayish brown hindwings, and dark brown forewings with a broad, cream-colored band along the leading edge. The adult moths are nocturnal and can be seen around lights at night from late summer through mid-fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The moth Lirimiris truncata is a member of the mostly tropical Prominent Moth Family (Notodontidae), and here in the United States, these moths are found only in the southernmost part of Arizona. I observed this colorful Lirimiris truncata caterpillar in Agua Caliente Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains. Lirimiris truncata caterpillars are bright yellow and&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/2011\/10\/07\/colorful-caterpillar-of-a-lirimiris-truncata\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More &rarr; <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arizona-butterflies-and-moths","category-arizona-invertebrates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1217"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fireflyforest.net\/firefly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}