Emerged Today - Black and White Tiger Moth

Way back on 31st August 2006, I found a caterpillar feeding on the leaves of Stinging Nettles (Urtica incisa).
I brough it home and kept it in a large jar and every 3 days for over a month, I fetched a bunch of stinging nettles (usually collecting a few stings in the process).
The caterpillar grew well, and late in September, it formed its chrysalis inside a cocoon, which was hidden in the leaf and bark litter that I put in the bottom of the jar.
Well this morning, I found that this lovely moth was perched on a stick in the jar. I was able to identify it as the Black and White Tiger Moth (Spilosoma glatignyi).
I took some photos of the moth and then released it (to go looking for more stinging nettles).
Here is the moth, newly emerged:

here is another picture of the moth:

It's beautiful! I love the way they look like they are wearing little fur coats! What color was the cat? I love the little touch of red on it. What did the cat look like? Did it have red on it?

It's beautiful! It was worth the stings (since I didn't get stung :)) to keep it alive. You did good!

Here is the caterpillar when I first found it on 31st August 2006, on a stinging nettle leaf:

and here is the caterpillar, almost fully grown 18 days after the first picture on 18th September 2006. It is again on a stinging nettle leaf:

Did the catapillar have stinging hairs?

This message was edited Feb 14, 2007 10:18 PM

sorry wrong picture, here is the second picture of the caterpillar:

Ummm..yeah, I'd say that it is "full grown" in that second pic. ;) (I'm sure you'll be posting another) The cats head is red! That is so cool how the little bit of red is still on the moth!

That cat looks right at home on the stinging nettle. Who is going to sting whom?

I love that moth. I am certainly going to nurture the stinging nettle seeds that I just planted.

One last picture of the moth, but this is of a different individual that visited our windows one evening back in April 2005 (before I knew what its caterpillar looked like). I like this picture taken through the window and showing the underside of the moth.

Just gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing it.

Thank you for all your comments. This is not the only caterpillar that feeds on stinging nettles in this area. In fact I was looking among the nettles hoping to find the caterpillar of the Australian Admiral butterfly (Vanessa itea). I did eventually find an Australian Admiral caterpillar and it was a full grown caterpillar sitting at the very top of a stinging nettle stem.

I took this one home intending to add it to the jar with the other caterpillars, but I kept it in a plastic bag overnight for a few more photos before putting it in the jar.
In the morning I found that the caterpillar was attached by one end to the plastic of the bag. I left it there and by the evening it had formed its chrysalis, attached to the plastic bag.
To be able to look after it, I wrapped the plastic round a garden stake and kept it propped in the kitchen.
Here is the chrysalis on its plastic holdfast!

This message was edited Feb 15, 2007 8:19 PM

It was much quicker to emerge than the moth, and after about 2 weeks, Fay said there was a butterfly flying around the family room and it was the Australian Admiral newly emerged from its chrysalis.
I let the butterfly go withour trying to photograph it, but here is a picture of an Australian Admiral that I took in our garden in October 1995.

This message was edited Feb 15, 2007 8:19 PM

Gorgeous cats and butterflies and moths! So many species! You took some very good photos! It's such fun to see what other creatures are out there gracing our gardens! Thanks for sharing your interesting cats and their adult stage, too!

Kennedy,

Great photos! Love the look of that moth and caterpillar...and of course, the wonderful Australian Admiral cat, chrysalis and thank you for showing what the butterfly looks like.

Lovely indeed!!!

~ Cat

Great pics Kennedy, that moth is beautiful!