I found it today on my Mexican oleander. It makes a kind of web inside the leaves of the oleander. I pulled them apart and found this monster! There are many of them on my plant and I am wondering if they are helpful or destructive. Thanks in advance for any help.
Russell
I found this while browsing another site. Looks like a satin white moth larvae - Palpita flegia. Here is a link.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/148904
Russell
not helpful, at least imho.
Not sure what you mean by not helpful. From what I have read in the search for this critter, it feeds on yellow oleander (Mexican oleander) and it makes a type of nest in the dead leaves of the plant. This might not be enough to definitively identify this caterpillar, but definitely matches what I have seen on my own plant for the last two year. It sure makes a mess of the plant, kills blooms or stops the plant from blooming and leaves a silky mess all over the buds and leaves.
Thanks for looking, though.
Russell
sorry. i was answering your question in the first post but i wasn't clear. these cats are destructive, not helpful, although the moths, when grown, do help with pollination, i would think.
Thanks for clarifying. I don't see them as helpful either! They are stopping my plant from blooming too. I think I will pick them off by hand and see if I can get rid of them before resorting to spraying them.
Take care,
Russell
you can spray with Bt or a product containing Spinosad. both of these are organic and only work on cats...they ingest the sprayed leaves and it messes with their digestive system. they can't eat and starve to death. if you have a butterfly garden, it will not interfere with other cats as long as you don't spray the other plants.
