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The Hairy Danger Of Tussocks

4:35 PM  , , ,  

Singapore Botanic Gardens
Central, Singapore
19 August 2012
Sunny

Merlion Wayfarer has been trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious yellow caterpillar since she saw it. (See "Defense Mechanisms Of The Moth Cat".) She asked quite a few of her nature-lover friends yet they were not able to provide an answer.  The only clue that she received was that it was definitely not a butterfly cat. That was why its photo could not be found on the Butterfly Circle website too.
 

She decided to venture further and posted on the NPSS  forum. Within 24 hours, kokhuitan has positively identified it as a Tussock Moth Caterpillar. (Thanks!)

Feeling curious about the name (“tussock” refers to a clump or tuft of hair, grass, leaves, etc.), Merlion Wayfarer decided to launch her own investigation.

She found some interesting facts about what Tussock Moths:
  • “Lymantriidae is a family of moths. Many of its component species are referred to as "Tussock moths" of one sort or another. The caterpillar, or larval, stage of these species often has a distinctive appearance of alternating bristles and haired projections. Like other families of moths, many Tussock Moth caterpillars have urticating hairs (often hidden among longer, softer hairs).”  (Wikipedia 2012)
    •       
  • "Lymantria means "defiler", and several species are important defoliators of forest trees."  (Wikipedia 2012)
       
  • “Adult moths of this family do not feed. They usually have muted colours (browns and greys), although some are white, and tend to be very hairy. Some females are flightless, and some have reduced wings. Usually the females have a large tuft at the end of the abdomen. The males, at least, have tympanal organs. They are mostly nocturnal.”  (Wikipedia 2012)
    •      
  • "The larvae are also hairy, often with hairs packed in tufts, and in many species the hairs break off very easily and are extremely irritating to the skin. This highly effective defence serves the moth throughout its life cycle as the hairs are incorporated into the cocoon, from where they are collected and stored by the emerging adult female at the tip of the abdomen and used to camouflage and protect the eggs as they are laid. In others, the eggs are covered by a froth that soon hardens, or are camouflaged by material the female collects and sticks to them."  (Wikipedia 2012)
    •   
  • "They tend to have broader host plant ranges than most Lepidoptera. Most feed on trees and shrubs, but some are known from vines, herbs, grasses and lichens."  (Wikipedia 2012)
    •   
  • Jennifer Viegas featured a few such cats with a video about a walk by Mark Fraser  (Discovery News, 2009)
    •   
  • There’s even a little story about someone who observed a cat all the way to an adult!  (Jacqueline, 2012)   

  
She found mostly North American mentions. For a while she was wondering if Tussock Moths can be only there. Until…
   
An outbreak of acute pruritic rash occurred in March 1990 among 141 residents of a high-rise public housing estate in Bukit Panjang, Singapore. The typical rash consisted of urticarial lesions distributed over the limbs and trunk. The outbreak was associated with a transient increase in tussock moths in the residential estate following an unusual, short dry spell. The aetiology was established when patch tests with crude moth material produced similar eruptions in 5 out of 7 adult volunteers between 40 min and 12 h. Pharmacological experiments with an aqueous extract of moth hairs in isolated guinea pig ileum elicited a response similar to that induced by histamine.
(PubMed.gov, 1991)

Yes,  Tussock Moths Cats can be DANGEROUS! And they really do exist in Singapore! She is certainly glad she resisted the temptation to take up the cute furry little yellow cat... Phew!



Sources

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