Promoted
Micro moth - Exit hole in Brown Knapweed
The other day Tymo showed us some details of the biology of this Micro moth (ID pending)
The little caterpillar/larva munches a corridor in the stem of Brown Knapweed and creates an exit hole for itself to emerge through once it has finished development to imago (planning ahead!), then retracts into the flower bud, feeds some more and pupates - strangely somehow always "backwards" (bum pointing to the exit hole). I opened this flower bud (from the stem) to have a better look...
Half of stem peeled away to see corridor with frass and the exit hole from the inside:
The pupa in situ:
Collage of details of same pupa:
Exit hole under different flower bud. The larva seems to have a clear preference to chew out the exit hole such that it is hidden behind a leaflet:
No species identified
The species on this photo is not identified yet. When signed in, you can identify species on photos that you uploaded. If you have earned the social image editing capability, you can also identify species on photos uploaded by others.
