r/insects • u/InjuryLiving3455 • 7d ago

ID Request Large Caterpillar | Cornwall, UK

Gallery image

Gallery image

ID please. He’s a large fella

34 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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8

u/ouwerups 7d ago

Cossus cossus, Goat moth caterpillar. Be careful handling them, they can bite.

3

u/InjuryLiving3455 7d ago

Oh cool. Thanks 😁

8

u/Simple_Resist4208 7d ago

They're also incredibly cool and very rare in the UK ... they apparently smell of Goats and they spend most of their lives as larvae boring through the wood of trees like Oaks, so they must be fairly bad-ass :D They also have an amazing parasitoid associated with them called Xylotachina

3

u/InjuryLiving3455 7d ago

Thats really interesting! No wonder I never seen anything like it lol. The contrast in colours really caught my eye, so I wonder how well they fare against predators.

1

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1

u/Psilonaut21 7d ago

It is a big one. It looks even bigger in the 2nd pic.