Tussock Moth caterpillar | Brisbane, February 4, 2012 | flickr
We have a tiny blackbean (Moreton bay chestnat) tree growing in a pot on our balcony. Under one leaf we found what I identified as the Tussock Moth caterpillar just after molting. Because insects and their larvae have external skeleton they need to change it (molt) in order to grow. Caterpillar eats a lot, than it molds and makes a new skeleton, which is bigger than the old one. So, it grows only immediately after molting, when a new skeleton is still elastic/not hard. On the photo above the old "skin" is on the left, and it is visibly smaller than the new caterpillar. Two white "cords" on the old "skin" apparently correspond to remnants of the nerve system. I was surprised to see the difference in color between larvae stages (different caterpillars). The caterpillar was on lower side of the leaf, and I bent it to get a better light.
The picture was taken with Fuji X10 in Supermacro mode, F7.1, iso 200, 1/120 sec. The image was cropped in GIMP. Below is unedited 100% crop from the original image. Click on images to see the bigger picture.
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