A Diversity of Strange Caterpillars in Panama

Today's video is going to be a bit different than what I usually do. This is just going to be a compilation of all sorts of caterpillars I've seen here in western Panama, and they will represent several different families of Lepidoptera. And bear in mind while watching this video, I am not a Lepidopterist, so if I get a lot of stuff wrong, my bad. Look at this little guy, a saddleback caterpillar. And this is one of those caterpillars that you definitely don't want to be stung by. It won't kill you, but this would not be very pleasant to be stung by, I guess. Just notice this symbiotic relationship going on too. I'm not sure what the ant's job is, but they're definitely interacting somehow. It's kind of fat. What it turns into, I would have absolutely no idea. All right, look here caterpillar. You come with me. This guy's really soft. Well, looking at this caterpillar now, I can say with near certainty that it is ready to pupate. It's kind of getting that shape too, if you know what I mean. And despite having all this fuzz, it's not one of those caterpillars where the fuzz detaches and gets in your skin, not getting any itchiness or anything. This one, to defend itself, kind of just let go of some fluids. Here we have a caterpillar, and I believe it's from the genus Lanoma. And if not, something very closely related. If I'm correct with my identification here, this is one of the only genera of caterpillars that can actually kill humans. This is only my second time seeing one from this genus. The other one I saw was in Peru. And these generally catch you by surprise when you accidentally lay your hand on a log or something, and one of them happens to be crossing. Up here, we have a congregation of caterpillars. These are caterpillars of some kind of moth, maybe something related to the tent moth. It's probably what's been decimating all of these leaves here. And a lot of these caterpillars from these moths are not super irritating, but a lot of them can be quite deceiving and actually give you a really bad rash. What a funky looking caterpillar. This one probably wouldn't be terrible to touch because it looks like it's a tiger moth of some sort, something similar. And those bristles, at least in the middle, I've touched some caterpillars quite similar to that. And it feels kind of like bristly and nothing else. That being said, I have no idea what the species is, and I don't really condone touching random fuzzy caterpillars. Up here, we have some saturnid caterpillars. I can't get very close. They're kind of high up. There's one behind it too. And there seems to be a few more in this tree. You see the branch moving? That's because there's a ton of caterpillars on it. There must be, I don't know, 20 or so up there, maybe even more. This is a little hornworm. And there's a lot of hawkmoth or sphinx moth caterpillar species out here. So identifying this one would probably be pretty tough. Kind of a blue horn on the back. Really nice striating. I have seen two hawkmoth caterpillars already, but they didn't have a horn like this. They were one of the ones with just a little bump. Here we have a caterpillar that is definitely related to the Io moth, though it has these special protrusions, which are just venomous spines, on the head there and on the posterior end. And if this is some kind of Io moth, the moth itself should be a yellowish orange color with eyes on its wings. This has got to be one of the craziest looking caterpillars I've ever seen. Very strange looking. It looks like a nudibranch. That's what it reminded me of. It has all sorts of weird protrusions. And would it be appropriate to say that this thing evolved to look like it's already been parasitized by a wasp, such that other wasps wouldn't parasitize it, therefore avoiding getting parasites altogether could be possible? And I'm saying that because when I looked at this thing for the first time, I thought, oh, I think a wasp has already found it. And that's why there are cocoons there. We've got a very large caterpillar in here. I think this is one of those dragon caterpillars or whatever. I thought this was an Asian thing, but here I am finding this one in Central America. So I don't think I really know what I'm looking at. But anyway, I'm going to take off that piece of the leaf and bring it up here because I'm behind a fence. All right, I took the caterpillar from in there and now I've hung it on this barbed wire. I'm noticing there's horns on the back that face anteriorly, which is kind of odd. And there's also that kind of eyelet right there at the midsection. And then, of course, what these caterpillars are known for, the two little appendages in the back there and the horns there. They kind of remind me of a horn lizard, Phranosoma. I don't think they eat these leaves. I forget what this is called. I don't know if this is Heliconias, but whatever it was on, I don't think it was eating. It's just on its way to pupate. Yeah, you can touch these caterpillars. They're quite soft too. This leaf is wet, so the water tension should hold these together and it won't fall off. Yeah, another patch of these guys. And what I find kind of funny about these guys, having seen them for the third time, is it looks like the size of the leaf that they're resting on kind of dictates the size of their troop. Got a nice hornworm up here, the larva of a sphinx or hawkmoth. And I think this is the same one as the other one we saw that pretty much looked the same. I don't recall the last one being on the same tree as this one. I don't really know what it is, but I think the last one was on a vine. Maybe my memory is not serving me correctly here. Another incredibly bizarre caterpillar here. This one with some pretty strange tufts and a really cool pattern, I must say. Kind of looks like a leopard, but perhaps more granulated. And then it has all these little islets on the back there in rows of two. This seems like one that I probably shouldn't touch. I'm just going to transfer it here. We've got another hawkmoth caterpillar up here. Different species. And this one's really cool, but it's actually quite high up. You see the end of my hook here. So I'm going to actually pull it down with the hook. It's just on a feeble plant here. I'm just going to bend it down and then start recording again. So here is our caterpillar. Very interesting, of course, because it is a hawkmoth caterpillar. It has the iconic horn in the back there. That being said, not all of them have it, and some of them just have a reduced one. The thing I find most interesting about this one, it has these islets here. Four of them. I've never seen one of those caterpillars that looks like a snake, but this is pretty darn close. I don't know if those are meant to be eye mimics, but they are placed in the right area of the caterpillar for that kind of thing. I thought, you know, I haven't handled many of the caterpillars that I found. So here's this one. It's not really moving, but if it's okay with chilling here, then I'm okay with it chilling here. All right. See you, buddy. Here we have a lanoma, or whatever the hell it is. And back here, I'm going to try not to brush this one here. That would be really bad. There is another one. This is the first time I've not seen just one solitary caterpillar of this species, but two instead. Another one of these hornworms in here. Really fat one. It's obviously still eating, because those signs of munching on the leaf there are obviously from this one. I just kind of interrupted it. But that being said, it should be ready to pupate and dig a hole into the ground pretty soon. And then it'll emerge as a sphinx moth the next spring. Now this, I'm a fan of. A caterpillar so fuzzy that dew drops are collecting. And it's, what do we want to say, fur? I mean, it's not actually fur, but it sure looks like it. And I'm filming from over here. It's a bit high up. That thing is about two to three centimeters long. Kind of caterpillar you don't really want to touch. Quite a large one. But I really wanted to point this one out and kind of climbed up here in this tree, because I thought it had some pretty cool marks on the side there. And it was moving until I came up here. Even though this is the kind of caterpillar that I really shouldn't think that it can't be seen if it's not moving, because it has some aposematic colors or something like that. This is definitely a highlight here. This is a caterpillar I found up in a tree. This one right here. And it's really cool looking. Has two little horns on its head. And it has a forked tail there. Which it can't really bend, I've noticed. It can only separate them. They're not really like perhensile or anything like that. It has these little eyelets on the side there, near the head. If I zoom in on the side here, there are these little bluish dots lining the entire side. This is probably the top three coolest caterpillars I've ever seen in my life, actually. See that guy? That's a Frangipani worm. And it is not something that eats bananas. So I'm not sure why it's here. If you don't already know what this worm is, it's a caterpillar that likes to eat a very specific tree. Lives in the tropics, and when it comes out, it comes out in full force. And there's like hundreds of them at the same time on one tree. But here we are, finding a single one on a banana tree, just at a random time of the year. They are considered to be a pest, but other than that, they are harmless to humans. Nothing really to be afraid of, unless you're a farmer. All right, I think I've identified the tree that's supposed to be in. So I'm just going to leave it here, and hopefully it makes the rest of its trip by itself, upwards. I don't know. All right, good luck, dude. Here's one of these caterpillars that looks like an Io moth. It might be slightly confused, because as you can see, this is barbed wire. It's not actually on a plant. That being said, it may be ready to pupate then, but I'm not so sure. Looks a bit on the small side. Maybe it'll find its way back up. I don't know what, uh, what species its host plant is. And another lanoma caterpillar here. They seem to be kind of everywhere. I'm not quite sure what its host plant is, because I've been finding them on all sorts of stuff. Or perhaps it is a generalist and kind of feeds on all sorts of plant species. Well, that will be all for this video of looking at random caterpillars in Panama. Thank you for watching.