[Taxacom] Thinnest caterpillar?

[Nieukerken, E.J. van]

See also the online publication at http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/120/paper/IS06009.htm with many pictures
Erik van Nieukerken

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu]On Behalf Of releech at telusplanet.net
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 4:32 AM
To: g.read at niwa.co.nz
Cc: Taxacom
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Thinnest caterpillar?

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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>





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