Testudo Man

[Benjamin]

Excellent stuff Paul. It’s good to compare dates for development around the country - roughly where are you?

[Testudo Man]

Excellent stuff Paul. It’s good to compare dates for development around the country - roughly where are you?

Cheers Ben, yes comparing development dates will be interesting.
Im approx 6 miles West from Maidstone in Kent.
Cheers Paul.

[Testudo Man]

Excellent continuation, Paul. I trust things advanced without any major casualties?

Thanks David, unfortunately things took a sinister turn of events...Predation by Spiders being the main problems for all the instars!!!
I would think predation was going on in the back ground for some time, but from the 2nd of July, i really started to notice the Spider impact on the colonies/broods/batches of Cats.

Here, on the 3/7/22, a Crab Spider has took one of the 4th instar Cats. But Crab Spiders were the least of their worries...another species of Spider was to be the cause of far greater losses!!!

No images are cropped. 2 camera set ups used. Cheers Paul.

[Wurzel]

Crickey Paul I don't know about Crab Spider that looks more like Shelob especially the final close up image!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

A sad and rather macabre scene, Paul. I guess spines give protection from birds but spiders are a different threat entirely.

[Testudo Man]

Crickey Paul I don't know about Crab Spider that looks more like Shelob especially the final close up image!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I had to search the word "Shelob" ..............Ive watched most of the "Potter" films with my youngest son, but that was a fair few years ago now!

[Testudo Man]

A sad and rather macabre scene, Paul. I guess spines give protection from birds but spiders are a different threat entirely.

Yes David, nature can appear cruel sometimes, epecially when you invest some time in observing these caterpillars.
5 species of Spiders were sighted over the weeks, but the Nettle patches were infested with a Spider known as the Common Candy-striped Spider, an it was this species that would inflict the most casualties upon the Cats!

But before all that predation, here is a freshly moulted 4th instar...the cats dont stay this light tone/colouration for long. As usual, no cropping to these images. Cheers Paul.

A close up. It does not take long, before this Caterpillar darkens down its light colouration shown here.

[David M]

Yes David, nature can appear cruel sometimes, epecially when you invest some time in observing these caterpillars. 5 species of Spiders were sighted over the weeks, but the Nettle patches were infested with a Spider known as the Common Candy-striped Spider, an it was this species that would inflict the most casualties upon the Cats!

Thanks for this, Paul. Fascinating (although not so much if you've developed an ongoing affinity for these cats). I hope a few avoided this 8-legged marauder.

[Testudo Man]

Yes David, nature can appear cruel sometimes, epecially when you invest some time in observing these caterpillars. 5 species of Spiders were sighted over the weeks, but the Nettle patches were infested with a Spider known as the Common Candy-striped Spider, an it was this species that would inflict the most casualties upon the Cats!

Thanks for this, Paul. Fascinating (although not so much if you've developed an ongoing affinity for these cats). I hope a few avoided this 8-legged marauder.

Cheers David, yes, the more time i spent observing the cats, the more i became involved with them
Before i get to the Spider onslaught!! i did find several other batches/colonies of Cats, taking the total up to maybe 6+ (of various numbers/stages).
Some were only small batches of approx 10+, whilst other batches were greater in number.

Some pics of the new batches found, the smallest could be 1st or maybe 2nd instar? whilst the others were probably 3rd instar?