Unidentifed Zale larva
Unidentified Zale - caterpillars/larva posted on iNaturalist (Observation group 233850882)
The larvae with this pattern are sometimes mis-identified as Catocala ilia. An attempt to gather images in one group to aid in possible identification.
Two possibilities may be Zale lunata and Zale minerea. May also be another Zale species. According to comments in Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America p. 172-173, both species of larva are highly variable and can be easily confused. Comment made on Zale lunata "Beautiful gray-green lichen-mimicking forms (McCabe 1990) occasionally encountered. Intersegmental area between A1 and A2 yellow (visible when a loop is thrown into body)."
Comment for Zale minerea - "Intersegmental area between A1 and A2 yellow over dorsum."
Selected comments from Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America
Identifications should be based on reared adults, or in some cases, foodplant associations. p. 169
The caterpillars resemble those of underwings (Catocala), whose caterpillars also bear dark spots along the midventer of the trunk. However the spots of zale caterpillars tend to form a midventral line on A1, A2 and A7; zales never have a fringe of subventral rootlet setae...as is commonly the case for our underwings. p. 169
View these larval photos of Catocala ilia to note the differences from the Zales collected in the Group observation. (There may be several Zales mixed in with this selection.)
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/128517-Catocala-ilia/browse_photos?term_id=1&term_value_id=6&layout=grid
Postings on BugGuide --
https://bugguide.net/node/view/2083754/bgimage
"There are only three species of Zale in BC – lunata & minerea which have very different caterpillars and duplicata."
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1583987/bgimage
"This beautiful caterpillar was found on a blueberry bush next to an oak tree." (Oregon)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1543165/bgimage
(Maryland)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1368114/bgimage (South Carolina) - possible?
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1296658/bgimage (Maryland) Larva has yellow intersegmental area between A1 and A2 over dorsum
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1272610/bgimage (Oregon)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/892540/bgimage (Massachusetts) (excellent head view)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/875347/bgimage (Quebec)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/629070/bgimage (Texas)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/573642/bgimage (Massachusetts) - Larva has yellow intersegmental area between A1 and A2 over dorsum
https://bugguide.net/node/view/459037/bgimage (Texas)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/327978/bgimage (North Carolina)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/319408/bgimage (Massachusetts)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/946/bgimage (Georgia)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/1792069 (Minnesota) Reared to adult - one of the variations for either Zale lunata or Zale minerea larva. Settled for Z. lunata but the ID seems a bit uncertain.
(Link to journal entry)
Unidentified Zale -
caterpillars/larva
My non-technical comments regarding what I look for in the larva.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/892540/bgimage - Head pattern
https://bugguide.net/node/view/573642/bgimage - yellow intersegmental area between A1 and A2 over dorsum (not always visible)
https://bugguide.net/node/view/946/bgimage - Look for this design which in my opinion looks like a face near the head, a "batman" image about midway and a dark area near the posterior.
Comentários
Ilona, this is wonderful! I'm sure it will prove useful. I appreciate you doing this. I will make sure to tag you in any future observations or info I come upon.
Thanks!
-Angus
I'm hoping this may influence some to rear these caterpillars. From what I have read in Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America p. 169 some interesting discoveries are still waiting to be made. I keep hoping to come across one that has been reared from this group.
With the map view of all these larvae (there are some individuals that appear clearly different now in the obs. group, but the majority appear to be the lichen-mimic species (if a single species), and if you exclude the pine-feeding species, the range maps of adult collections/records that match up with the varied locations of these larval records come down to Z. minerea and Z. lunata as far as I can tell.
https://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8697 (minerea)
https://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8689 (lunata)
If you exclude the west coast, then Z. aeruginosa is an interesting possibility, but I doubt that would be it given it's scarcity and apparent habitat specificity...
https://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8694 (aeruginosa)
Note--the apparent 'hole' in records from the non-forested regions of the the upper and lower midwest is obvious in the iNat larval records map, and not consistent with adult observations of minerea or lunata. However, that could be just an artifact of small sample size, different geographic larval morphs, or potentially a reflection of migratory/dispersing adults that turn up much more widely than where larvae are actually occurring.
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