Meet the Caterpillar That Turns Dead Bugs into Living Disguises—Nature’s Ultimate Master of Disguise Revealed!
So, picture this: a caterpillar with a taste for the macabre, moonlighting as a tiny taxidermist right on the lush slopes of Oahu. Yep, this “bone collector” isn’t your garden-variety inch-worm—oh no, it’s a creepy little curator that scavenges insect corpses (and sometimes live ones!) from spider webs, cleverly donning their bits like a bizarre Halloween costume. Nestled in just a six-square-mile patch of Hawaiian mountains, these munching morticians are the first known species to rock such grisly camouflage—kind of makes you wonder if they’re the original goth kids of the insect world, right? How did evolution decide that bug body parts make the best fashion statement? Let’s unravel this morbid mystery and find out why blending in can be a matter of life or death when your neighbors are fierce spiders. LEARN MORE.
This “bone collector” caterpillar is found only in a six-square-mile area on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Rubinoff Lab, Entomology Section, University of Hawaii at ManoaA video of the Hawaiian “bone collector” caterpillar shows how it creates its camouflage.
Caterpillars are remarkable creatures, but a particular species newly identified in the journal Science might just take the cake for strangeness.
Dubbed the “bone collector,” this caterpillar species scrounges the cadavers — and sometimes the live bodies — of insects from spider webs, carefully rotating them in an almost curated manner in order to wear their body parts as camouflage. The carnivorous caterpillar was found on the Hawaiian island of Oahu and is the first known species to engage in this odd behavior.
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