Feeding on the underside of a hazel leaf in my garden, I believe it might be the larva of a Comma butterfly. Can anyone confirm (or refute) this, please?
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Ha! - I laugh because I had the same query yesterday! I found the same caterpillar but on looking through the i/d book for moth caterpillars, could not find it. As I was going to email George re my Coleophora finds, I thought that I`d ask him before having my evening meal. Whilst having my food, I was thinking that (a) I`ve seen that before and (b) thought that the spikey bits were reminiscent of a tortoiseshell butterfly caterpillar....so I checked the BUTTERFLY caterpillar i/ds and it was obvious - a comma. I also found a paper photo of mine of the same caterpillar from a couple of years back!...and, by then, George had also been in touch to say it was a comma.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the confirmation, Ian, there's a good photo in Chris Manley's 1st edition (p273) so I was fairly certain although I don't think that hazel is the usual food plant (nettle?) We do get an occasional Comma here when the buddleia's flowering but they're not a very common sight.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I've never seen one on hazel. We have some on our blackcurrants at the moment.
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