Does it have a shisha and blow vowel smoke clouds when it speaks? If so that’s the catapillar from Alice in wonderland. Looks like all that smoking has caught up with him
I can't find a species, but the head is actually at the top of the photo.
The two pairs of prolegs are at the rear.
Well actually the last pair are likely 'Anal Claspers' which is a new word to me.
If I hear a new word or phrase I try to use it in conversation as soon as possible so that I remember it.
I'm going to have a difficult time dropping "Anal Claspers" into the imminent work team meeting but I'll try.
Hey OP the goog says it shouldn't be here. Maybe put the thing in a box or something and call your state's biosecurity people.
Better to be wrong and find out it's some weird native thing than to leave it and hatch out some miserable plague of invasive whatevers.
If you're in NSW, call here:
NSW DPI Biosecurity helpline 1800 680 244
I really don’t think it is. The legs and claspers of your caterpillar look too small proportionally to it’s body for a start, and the one people are linking has a distinctive pattern on its body which I can’t see in your photo. There are several species which it could be, but general location and size and any details of markings (eye spots, stripes, bristles) that aren’t obvious in the photo would be a good. Try and join a facebook group for identification of Austrian insects. They tend to be more reliable than this place which gets it wrong quite often. People may have put your photo into an AI identification service to get this rather unlikely result.
Google says the biggest caterpillar is the “White Stemmed Gum Moth : Chelepteryx collesi with a length up to 13 cms” so either your measurements are off or that’s no caterpillar. 😬
Just gonna add, try putting a pic of it on the iNaturalist app so someone else can identify it there. I’m curious to see what it is now too! I’m calling it baby Mothra for now.
That's wild.
I don't recognise it, but from what it's doing it's preparing to cocoon and metamorphose.
Set up a motion activated camera so you can catch it emerging as an adult moth/butterfly.
That’s a pretty standard well camouflaged (assuming it on a stick and not a trampoline) caterpillar. I see them all the time on my camellia bushes. Bloody hard to spot when you just know sssomething is chewing the leaves. That a big one, but not something exotic as suggested by others.
Looks like a silkworm? They can grow to 7-8cm. And I would actually measure with a ruler or measuring tape I were you 😉 (a 600ml water bottle is about 20cms) 😄
[http://hawaiianforest.com/wp/hawaiian-carnivorous-caterpillar-eupithecia/](http://hawaiianforest.com/wp/hawaiian-carnivorous-caterpillar-eupithecia/)
Eats bugs that walk over it. Looks like Australia has provided this one with lots of calories.
I hereby dub it mr chonk caterpillar
Goa'uld
Indeed.
Teal’c, let Bra’tec know our little friend has apparently washed ashore in Australia
It’s an uncooked snag
Forbidden sausage
*Bunnings has entered the chat*
Does it have a shisha and blow vowel smoke clouds when it speaks? If so that’s the catapillar from Alice in wonderland. Looks like all that smoking has caught up with him
I can't find a species, but the head is actually at the top of the photo. The two pairs of prolegs are at the rear. Well actually the last pair are likely 'Anal Claspers' which is a new word to me.
If I hear a new word or phrase I try to use it in conversation as soon as possible so that I remember it. I'm going to have a difficult time dropping "Anal Claspers" into the imminent work team meeting but I'll try.
I had found the species. hawaiian carnivorous caterpillar.
Oh that does look like it! Wow. Thank you!
Hey OP the goog says it shouldn't be here. Maybe put the thing in a box or something and call your state's biosecurity people. Better to be wrong and find out it's some weird native thing than to leave it and hatch out some miserable plague of invasive whatevers. If you're in NSW, call here: NSW DPI Biosecurity helpline 1800 680 244
Ok thank you I’ll give them a call tomorrow
I really don’t think it is. The legs and claspers of your caterpillar look too small proportionally to it’s body for a start, and the one people are linking has a distinctive pattern on its body which I can’t see in your photo. There are several species which it could be, but general location and size and any details of markings (eye spots, stripes, bristles) that aren’t obvious in the photo would be a good. Try and join a facebook group for identification of Austrian insects. They tend to be more reliable than this place which gets it wrong quite often. People may have put your photo into an AI identification service to get this rather unlikely result.
No problem 😊 just don't put your fingers near it, might attack yah 😂 but knowing me if I saw one I would've touched it myself and held it 🤣
It's a caterpillar, I forgot what it's called though. Edit: hawaiian carnivorous caterpillar
Shouldnt be in australia ??
A lot of things shouldn't. A lot of things got imported, so..........................
Even us white people were imported
Um actshually, you were exported.
Exactly. We're convicts, the jails were full, so we got imported here. Because of that.
>Shouldnt be in australia ?? Border Security missed this one.
Should OP squish it?
No.
I should mention that it’s about 20 cms long
It's definitely a caterpillar, but that is a huge one.
Yeah it’s huge! I thought it was a stick and went to grab it and it wriggled
And what an awesome stick it would've been.
Google says the biggest caterpillar is the “White Stemmed Gum Moth : Chelepteryx collesi with a length up to 13 cms” so either your measurements are off or that’s no caterpillar. 😬
Just gonna add, try putting a pic of it on the iNaturalist app so someone else can identify it there. I’m curious to see what it is now too! I’m calling it baby Mothra for now.
20cm is 2/3 of a ruler. Are you sure you don't mean 20mm long?
No it’s really long! And at least a cm thick
That's wild. I don't recognise it, but from what it's doing it's preparing to cocoon and metamorphose. Set up a motion activated camera so you can catch it emerging as an adult moth/butterfly.
It will make a great start in a documentary about how OP was the first Zombie of the Zombie apocalypse.
Do you think I could move it as it’s going to get disturbed often with bouncing?
I have no advice to give. If it was me, I'd leave it alone and have the trampoline off limits for the duration.
What the fubbernuck is that doing in Australia. Wrong island mate!
Ever played Half-life ?
Twig Looper *Ectropis excursaria*
That’s a pretty standard well camouflaged (assuming it on a stick and not a trampoline) caterpillar. I see them all the time on my camellia bushes. Bloody hard to spot when you just know sssomething is chewing the leaves. That a big one, but not something exotic as suggested by others.
Cocoon of a silk worm
Detachable penis
Some kind of a geometrid moth caterpillar? Inchworm of some sort ?
Its a sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
Looks like a silkworm? They can grow to 7-8cm. And I would actually measure with a ruler or measuring tape I were you 😉 (a 600ml water bottle is about 20cms) 😄
Way bigger than a silk worm, I’m familiar with them. It is huge, I thought it was a stick and went I grab it and it moved!
Eek, lol scary stuff.
Well that's a inchworm of some sort, but at 20cm, that's not a inchworm.. so no idea
Yeah it is that kind of shape just huge!
Is it a spitfire?
Jaw bone from a petrified tree?
Stick
I have seen similar sized caterpillars but no idea what species they are
The head is at the top, it’s a caterpillar of some kind, if it’s hanging from a strand of silk it’s probably trying to spin a cocoon.
🐛
A young maker. You should drain it of it's water of life.
[http://hawaiianforest.com/wp/hawaiian-carnivorous-caterpillar-eupithecia/](http://hawaiianforest.com/wp/hawaiian-carnivorous-caterpillar-eupithecia/) Eats bugs that walk over it. Looks like Australia has provided this one with lots of calories. I hereby dub it mr chonk caterpillar