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Grahame Jackson
Sydney NSW, Australia
Identification request
2018-05-05T04:00:00.0000000Z
   1
Identification of a slug caterpillar from Barbados
Dear All, Any possible ID of the insect on the photo? It was found in Trinidad.

Thanks
Deanne Vijayanti Ramroop
Trinidad

Posted on user's behalf
banana
Trinidad
Caterpillar
3
4316

Responses

Grahame Jackson
   0
2018-05-05T14:00:00.0000000Z
The caterpillar displayed belongs to the family Limacodidae (slug caterpillar). The species pictured is probably Sibine fusca (Meynadier), a pest usually found on palms in the neotropics. It has been reported to occasionally occur on bananas. It is not advisable to touch the caterpillar as it bears highly urticating spines.

Perhaps as a general recommendation for future queries, it is important to know in which part of the world the observation has been made and the host plant (though in this case it could easily be recognized). The availability of such information is already about ½ an id.

Best regards

Georg

Dr. Georg GoergenEntomologist  |  Biodiversity Centre / Biological Control Centre for AfricaInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA, www.iita.org)Headquarters and West Africa Hub
PMB 5320, Oyo Road, Ibadan 200001, Oyo State, Nigeria
International Mailing Address: IITA Ltd 7th Floor, Optivo House, 125 High Street, Croydon CR0 9XP, UK
Tel: +234 2 7517472  |  USA Tel: +1 201 6336094  |  Fax: +44 208 7113786  |  Mobile no: +229 97397747
IITA is a member of the CGIAR Consortium (www.cgiar.org).

Posted on user's behalf

banana
Sibine_fusca
Slug_caterpillar
Limacodidae
Tinidad
Grahame Jackson
   0
2018-06-23T03:59:39.7133932Z
The current name is Acharia fusca (Stoll), and Georg is right, it does looks like published illustrations of the larva.  However, Acharia is a difficult genus with several species of economic importance and needs revision.

Regards
Matthew

Matthew Cock
CABI
Bakeham Lane
Egham
Surrey TW20 9TYEmail: m.cock@cabi.org
Visit us at www.cabi.org

Posted on user's behalf

Trinidad
Acharia
Slug_caterpilla
Grahame Jackson
   0
2018-06-23T04:10:12.8956735Z

Dear Deanne

In Suriname, these are often parasitized, you could check if these in Trinidad are also! Regards, 

Alies Muller

Posted on user's behalf

Slug_caterpillar
Suriname
Acharia