What sort of caterpillar is this??

[CB]

Many thanks Martin for taking the trouble to respond. I've been most
interested to learn of the Porter book, as I have often been disappointed by
the somewhat haphazard coverage of caterpillars in more general wildlife
identification volumes.

Cheers .... CB ....

Martin Honey wrote:

> Dear CB
>
> At 08:20 PM 9/24/99 +0100, you wrote:
> >My wife was collecting some foliage for a floral display for a wedding
> >and noticed a caterpillar she had never seen before on an oak leaf.
> >
> >About 3 cm long, light green, hairy with four lighter coloured tufts
> >about half way down its back. A reddish-brown horn at one end (not sure
> >if head or tail). Seems not to move much in the day, but assume busy
> >during the night since oak leaf is eaten and copious droppings (approx 1
> >mm spherical). If the leaf it sits on is disturbed the creature moves a
> >bit and dark brown stripes can be seen in the concertina folds of its
> >segments.
>
> Your larva is that of the moth Calliteara pudibunda (Linnaeus), the Pale
> Tussock. Until recently, it was quite difficult to identify the larvae of
> British moths as there was no comprehensive, easily obtained, reference
> book. That has now changed with the publication of Jim Porter's The Colour
> Identification Guide to Caterpillars of the British Isles (Viking Books
> ISBN 0-670-87509-0), a companion volume to Bernard Skinner's book on the
> adult moths.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Martin
> ***********************************************************
> Martin R. Honey CBiol MIBiol, Lead Curator (Moths)
> Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum,
> Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, Great Britain
> EMAIL:     M.Honey at nhm.ac.uk
> Museum web page <http://www.nhm.ac.uk>
>
> TELEPHONE: 020 7942 5604     International: 44 20 7942 5604
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