page_title: Caterpillar
section_title: Defensive behaviors
hierarchical_section_title: Caterpillar / Defenses / Defensive behaviors
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Chenilles processionnaires du pin (Thaumetopoea pityocampa), Périgueux, Dordogne, France. La queue de la procession.
context_page_description: Caterpillars are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera.
  As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies are commonly called caterpillars as well. Both lepidopteran and symphytan larvae have eruciform body shapes.
  Caterpillars of most species are herbivorous, but not all; some are insectivorous, even cannibalistic. Some feed on other animal products; for example, clothes moths feed on wool, and horn moths feed on the hooves and horns of dead ungulates.
  Caterpillars are typically voracious feeders and many of them are among the most serious of agricultural pests. In fact many moth species are best known in their caterpillar stages because of the damage they cause to fruits and other agricultural produce, whereas the moths are obscure and do no direct harm. Conversely, various species of caterpillar are valued as sources of silk, as human or animal food, or for biological control of pest plants.
context_section_description: Many caterpillars display feeding behaviors which allow the caterpillar to remain hidden from potential predators. Many feed in protected environments, such as enclosed inside silk galleries, rolled leaves or by mining between the leaf surfaces.
  Some caterpillars, like early instars of the tomato hornworm and tobacco hornworm, have long "whip-like" organs attached to the ends of their body. The caterpillar wiggles these organs to frighten away flies and predatory wasps. Some caterpillars can evade predators by using a silk line and dropping off from branches when disturbed. Many species thrash about violently when disturbed to scare away potential predators. One species (Amorpha juglandis) even makes high pitched whistles that can scare away birds.
caption: Caterpillars linked together into a "train"
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