Can you help identify Martin? (he's a caterpillar btw)

[Rob_B]

We have a new pet in our house, we found him when he was about the size of a grain of rice, now he's over an inch long.

We're trying to figure out what he'll turn into, I've googled but all squiggly green things look the same to me!

Any experts on here?

[Phage]

What is he eating ?

[Rob_B]

You'd think protein shake by the increase in size but in reality just any leaves I find in the garden

[ik9000]

cabbage white is my guess

[Rob_B]

A quick google shows a tonne of images, some look like Martin but most are nothing like him (or her!) Hence my problem in identification :/

[deejayburnout]

Try contacting a caterpillar website and send in a picture. They will be able to find it for you. I had a question about a spider once and they website I contacted was very helpful.

[g8ina]

If he ends up like this - he a birch sawfly larva.


BirchSawflyLarva__9475 by g8ina, on Flickr

[TooNice]

Looks like a kiwi (the fruit, not the bird).

[TaintedShirt]

Have you tried the Wild About Britain site?

The main forum page: WildAboutBritain forums

I think the id forum for caterpillars/ larvae is: Eggs larvae and caterpillars

I found them helpful a few years ago.

[Rob_B]

Have you tried the Wild About Britain site?

The main forum page: WildAboutBritain forums

I think the id forum for caterpillars/ larvae is: Eggs larvae and caterpillars

I found them helpful a few years ago.

Two posts into that forum someone was asking for an ID for something very similar to Martin http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...illar-i-d.html

Looks like he might be an Angle Shades moth, likely to be spring before he pupates, guess he's going to be a long-term visitor

http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/Insight/?page_id=7404

[Peter Parker]

(edit - yeah, what Rob_B said)

Could be Angle Shades moth.

Lots of caterpillars are green or brown, sometimes for the same species. They really don't want to be eaten. I'm ok being racist here and saying they all look the same to me Especially if they eat your favourite garden plants.

However, the broken white stripe is the giveaway feature. It's described on the wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_Shades#Biology and although there's a good picture of the brown form, there isn't for the green.

There's a better picture on this page - http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/Insight/?page_id=11979 - Scroll down to "Noctuidae moth caterpillars", then click the brown caterpiller, about 5th row from the bottom, 2nd from the left (says angle_shades in the link if you hover over). In the pop-up gallery you have to click next, not use the cursor keys, because their Javascript seems dodgy.

Anyway, here's the image :

[Rob_B]

He eventually emerged, and he's an angle shades moth

He's now flying free.