[Taxacom] Thinnest caterpillar?

[releech at telusplanet.net]

A picture would be really nice, even if you have
to send it individually to those who request it.
Robin Leech

Quoting Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.co.nz>:

> Passing on a local news story for a quiet day on Taxacom. Actually sub 1 
> mm doesn't seem that unusual, at least to me (an annelid biologist), but 
> the actual width is not stated. The species has a precarious outlook by 
> the look of it.
> 
>   Rare skinny caterpillar named after Houdini
> 
> Wellington, Oct 19; NZ Press Association
> 
> Discovered in 2003 by Landcare Research scientist Corrine Watts, 
> Houdinia flexilissima (aka Fred the Thread) lives inside the narrow 
> stems of the endangered wetland plant, Sporadanthus ferrugineus
> 
> A rare, ultra-thin caterpillar which lives insides plant stems, and had 
> escaped scientific discovery until 2003, has been named after the 
> magician Harry Houdini.
> 
> Hamilton Landcare Research scientist Corrine Watts first discovered the 
> skinny orange caterpillar in Waikato in 2003, and nicknamed it Fred the 
> Thread.
> 
> After further investigation, Dr Watts and colleague Robert Hoare 
> realised Fred was the caterpillar which turned into a type of moth which 
> had been a mystery to scientists until then.
> 
> Fred is thinner than 1mm, and lives inside the narrow stems of the 
> endangered rush-like plant Sporadanthus ferrugineus, which is found only 
> in three North Island wetlands.
> 
> In full, the species' new name is Houdinia flexilissima.
> 
> The first part of the name is a nod to the incredible escape performed 
> by the adult moth, after it has pupated inside the tight confines of its 
> host plant.
> 
> Flexilissima means "pliable" or "very flexible".
> 
> Dr Hoare believed the newly discovered caterpillar might be the world's 
> thinnest.
> 
> Two of the wetlands in Waikato where Fred lived were protected, while 
> one, at Taihape, was being mined for peat, Dr Watts said.
> 
> Gamman Mining, which operates there, had been incredibly supportive of 
> ecological work in the area, and had put significant amounts on money 
> into restoring mined areas, she said.
> 
> However in future the land could be redeveloped into farmland.
> 
> Dr Watts said it would be a shame to lose the habitat of the highly 
> evolved Houdinia moth, which had an incredibly specialised relationship 
> with its host plant.
> 
> Citation:
> The world’s thinnest caterpillar? A new genus and species of 
> Batrachedridae (Lepidoptera) from Sporadanthus ferrugineus 
> (Restionaceae), a threatened New Zealand plant.  Robert Hoare, John 
> Dugdale, Corinne Watts.  Invertebrate Systematics 20(5) 571–583
> 
> -- 
>    Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.co.nz>
>     http://www.annelida.net/
> 
> 
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