A black edged bluish stripe runs along the middle of the larva's back for the length of its body. The galleries of Butterfly caterpillars, Moth caterpillars and Sawfly caterpillars contain images of many of the caterpillars most likely to be seen in the British Isles. Galleries for many other parts of the world are being added including North America, The United States and Canada , Africa and Asia. One of several similar species is Zaraea fasciata. They use it to scare predators away, so be careful. Caterpillar Facts • Although the Very Hungry Caterpillar was a very greedy caterpillar, most are actually quite picky eaters and stick to one or two types of leaf. Caterpillars are part of the four-stage lifecycle of every butterfly and moth: egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult. This is another big caterpillar -- about the size and thickness of your thumb. It's closely related to the cecropia moth (above). Always found in hoards, unfortunately, which can be kind of disconcerting. The solitary larvae feed on Silver Birch leaves between June and September and can grow up to 45mm in length. The name of each foodplant links to a Google search and secondary food sources are greyed out. As big as they are, they are really hard to see among the foliage when they're resting. There is a single row of black dots along the side of the body. • Some caterpillars can be poisonous, taking their poison from the food they eat. CATERPILLARS are plaguing gardens across the UK and destroying one of Britain’s most common plants - the box tree - in just a matter of days. The feature that distinguishes it from the rest of the birch trees is its flaking sliver/white bark. Many exotic species of birch are planted in urban settings throughout the UK, including the Himalayan Paper Birch , … Larvae of the dusky birch sawfly feed on birch tree leaves. These caterpillars are prey to just about every predatory insect, bird, reptile, amphibian, and animal out there so I wouldn't worry too awfully much about what you need to do. A caterpillar frequently found in gardens and the countryside is the caterpillar of a sawfly often referred to as the The Honeysuckle Sawfly. They are the Yellownecked caterpillar, often found on birch and other deciduous trees. Larval Foodplants. The silver birch tree … The caterpillar is the growing stage in the insect’s life and it will moult several times to enable its body to expand.The stage between each moult is called an instar and most species undergo this process four to six times. The silver birch, also known as the white birch, grows from 40 to 50 feet in height with a slender trunk that seldom exceeds a foot in diameter. Polyphemus caterpillars eat maple, birch, willow, and several other trees but are seldom abundant enough to cause any real damage. 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