[NatureNS] huge cecropia moth caterpillar in Wolfville, plus small winged ants

Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:44:17 -0300
From: Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
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Aug. 23, 2007 - Lots of small black WINGED REPRODUCTIVE ANTS (males?) at
home in Wolfville.

At her Hustonıs Beach home in Lower Blomidon, in a pear tree, Jennifer
Foster noticed a few eaten leaves and then noticed a huge green CATERPILLAR
studded with ornamental papillae of a couple of colours, including reddish.
She brought it to Grand Pre where we were having supper with friends, and I
was happy to identify it as a fully grown CECROPIA MOTH CATERPILLAR.  At
home in Wolfville I took a couple of PHOTOS of it, and then released it in
our back yard on a willow shrub.

Aug. 24, 2007 - I checked on the huge CECROPIA MOTH CATERPILLAR in our
back-yard willow bush this afternoon in the rain, and it had not moved at
all from yesterday evening.  It was stretched out full-length underneath a
leafy branch, and thus was upside-down.  I took one more flash     PHOTO,
which should be a winner and look much more natural than the two photos
taken yesterday on my carıs hood!

Yesterday my friends managed to find good infoı on the cecropia moth on the
Internet.  Today it occurs to me that Googling ³cecropia² should also turn
up the CECROPIA TREE, which I remember very well from a few tropical trips,
especially in Costa Rica.  This is the tree in which many naturalists get to
see SLOTHS of both species, and itıs not because its leaves are particularly
favoured as food by the sloths.  But its open crown just makes it easy to
look for the swifts on the relatively bare limbs below the characteristic
leaves.

Now Iım wondering why the use of the same word, cecropia, for such widely
different organisms?

Cheers from Jim in Wolfville
---------------------
Jim (James W.) Wolford
91 Wickwire Avenue 
Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
B4P 1W3
phone (902)542-9204 (home)
fax (902)585-1059 (Acadia Univ. Biology Dept.)
e-mail <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
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³The cure for boredom is curiosity.  There is no cure for curiosity.²  -
Ellen Parr
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³...... the Earth .....belongs as much to those who come after us as to us;
and we have no right, by anything that we do, or neglect to do, to involve
them in unnecessary penalties, or to deprive them of benefits which are
theirs by right.²  - John Ruskin
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