Painted Lady Larvae?

[Derek P]

Hi,

I have been trying to ID this caterpillar (see link below) for some time now without success. Although I have long thought that it may be a late instar Painted Lady. Tonight however, I discovered your excellent site and the detailed photos and descriptions you have of the Painted Lady's life cycle and am now a little more sure of my ID. However, I am by no means an expert and would very much appreciate your opinion as to what it is.

For information, I found the caterpillar at Potteric Carr Nature Reserve in Doncaster, in August 2017, on bramble with stinging nettle growing through it.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/derek_p/3 ... ateposted/

Thank you,

Derek

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Derek,

I'm pretty sure that this is a Red Admiral larva for several reasons:

1. The redness of the claspers - Vince Massimo helped me identify a larva last year and this was one of the diagnostics.

2. The fact that it is feeding on nettle - this is the preferred foodplant of the Red Admiral, whereas Painted Lady has a preference for thistle.

3. The plant looks pretty well eaten, which is why it is out in the open.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Vince Massimo]

Hi Derek,

I agree with Pete that this is a Red Admiral larva. It looks like it has just just moulted into the 5th instar and is preparing to construct a fresh larval tent, which is why it is out in the open. In such cases it will usually fell the top part of a nettle plant by chewing away at the stem (which it looks like it's doing in your photo), to produce a characteristic shelter.

Red Admiral tent (final instar)

Painted Lady larvae do not do this and, in my experience, do not have sufficient variability to produce a larva of this colour.


Vince

[Derek P]

Pete, Vince,

Thank you for your ID and supporting explanation much appreciated.

Regards,

Derek