A Trio of Hong Kong iNatters See a Lobster Caterpillar Moth Larva! - (Belated) Observation of the Week, 4/10/21

Our Observation(s) of the Week are all of this Lobster Caterpillar Moth (Stauropus alternus, 龍眼蟻舟蛾 in Chinese (traditional)), seen in Hong Kong by @pasteurng, @love3, and @pkyeung!

[This post took a week longer than usual because, after @pasteurng told me the above moth was actually found by @love3, I contacted her about it as well. She then told me @pkyeung was also there for the find, so I messaged him to get his part of the tale. - Tony]

Pasteur (@pasteurng -  below): I have been interested in nature for a long time. I mainly observed small insects such as butterflies and dragonflies before. Now also observe birds and other larger animals.

Lillian (@love3 - below): I have been interested in nature since I was a child because I lived in an outlying island in Hong Kong, where there is an abundance of plants and wild animals. However, at that time, taking photos was not as easy as nowadays because cameras were expensive and people didn't have smartphones.

I was more of an indoor person and seldom went hiking, but then a smartphone with camera function, which is a norm of today, changed my life. I started realizing the diverse biodiversity and the proximity of wildlife in my current neighborhood, which is a highly urbanized area in Hong Kong. For example, I spotted a Prosopocoilus oweni melli just right outside the window of a Marks & Spencer, which is pretty amazing.

PK (@pkyeung - below): After I retired a few years ago, I’ve had plenty of time to wander the hill slope and stream by my house. One day I found a Papilio butterfrly drinking water under the sunlight - it was beautiful. I started take photo of it from a much closer distance than I ever had before - less than an inch. After that I started taking photos of all kinds of insects and I like to get as close as possible.

Since the natural nature environment is so rich in Hong Kong, I also take photos of birds, fungi and plants.

Lilian: It is difficult for me, a layman, to identify any living organisms even with field guides (not mention there aren't many for Hong Kong), so I started to join wildlife groups on Facebook. In those groups, there are experts with different specialisms who can help me with the ids. I also joined different projects on iNaturalist because there are experts in these projects, too.

I know of the existence of iNaturalist because of Roger Kendrick (@hkmoths), who has devoted his life to moths in Hong Kong, because of his Hong Kong Moths project. Recently a Hong Kong Jellyfish project was created, and I started looking into the sea for jellyfish because of this project. I told my sister and she has started taking photos of jellyfish and realized that there are so many jellyfish near the pier.

The feeling of this is like playing Pokemon Go in reality. I want to complete my "record book", but I know that it will never be completed because new species are discovered every day around the world. This is amazing because I’ve found my interest for life. The City Nature Challenge is also an event that I love to participate in. It is challenging but fun because it somehow pushes me to explore different habitats that I may not have explored without this project.

PK: Pasteur and Lilian are my nature Facebook friends but I’ve never met them before before. Lilian wanted to search for Pyrops candelarius which, although commonly found in most areas, she had not photographed with her new camera. So it was our first time to gather and visit the popular Tai Po Kau  “Chung Tsai Yuen”, where people look for birds, insects and fungi.

Pasteur: The first person who found the Stauropus alternus was Lilian. She also likes small insects very much. Stauropus alternus looks like a common dead leaf, which makes it difficult to spot. The forefoot is very long like an ant's foot, and the the tail is very large. It looks like the Alien Queen!

Lilan: The caterpillar was found as we were about to leave the park. When I walked passed a plant, I saw something weird on the tip of a twig. It looked like a wet wilted brown leaf dropped from the trees above and randomly hanging on the twig due to the rain. I looked closer and saw this caterpillar feeding on the leaves. I screamed as I wanted to see this for a long time due to its bizarre appearance. I didn't expect that this relatively uncommon caterpillar can be found just on the side of a paved road in a park. I asked the two men to come back (above) and we were so happy to see this caterpillar.

PK: [Stauropus alternus] is one of [Lillian's] dream targets. It’s also the first one I’ve seen and photographed. We ended this outing with satisfaction and joy.

Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.

- What does this moth look like as an adult? To the iNat photo browser!

- I couldn’t find any videos of Stauropus alternus caterpillars, but here’s its relative, Stauropus fagi, in action.

- As his profile pic shows, Pasteur is a Hong Kong Country Parks Outstanding Volunteer. The program’s purpose, he says, is to “raise public awareness of protecting Hong Kong country parks through participating in management, education and conservation work of the country parks. It also offers valuable opportunities for nature lovers to serve society.”

Posted on April 27, 2021 07:13 PM by tiwane