Small Tortoiseshell The closely related, but more loc They pupate in July, emerging as adults between July and August. However, to those who grow thier own food, they can endanger a crop by feeding on many of the plants that humans grow for food.
Black caterpillars are harmless to human beings directally. Not all butterflies require nettles. Some caterpillars are quite noticeable, like the dense congregations of black, spiky peacock caterpillars which cluster on nettles in June.
The females lay single eggs on the upper leaves of nettles, usually in the middle of large swathes of plants. At the weekend, I relieved a friend of about 10 stinging nettles that were growing in her garden. Hairy caterpillars Although in general caterpillars are not a danger to our health there are some species of hairy caterpillars that can cause unpleasant skin irritation unless care is taken.
Nettles are absolutely essential for the butterflies of our 5 most popular species to raise their caterpillars. It is widely known that the Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) is the main foodplant of caterpillars of several of our largest and most colourful butterflies including the Comma, Peacock, Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell. However, there are also at least two green caterpillars on the leaves, they look like those of the white butterfly but might not be. This caterpillar identification page will help you identify some of the most commonly seen caterpillars.
Back home, when potting them, I’ve found one curled leaf, which I hope houses an admiral caterpillar.
With many of the other butterflies, you might not see the caterpillars but hopefully you'll see more adults flitting around your garden. This Introduction to rearing caterpillars and step by step guide on How to rear caterpillars of butterflies and moths has been added in response to the many questions asked. The caterpillars emerge after 7 days and immediately begin folding nettle leaves into safety tents.
Caterpillars: jet black, velvety and covered in tiny white spots and short shiny black spines. With dozens of butterflies and thousands of moths in the UK, there's a huge variety of caterpillars to be found.
These butterflies require stinging nettles because they keep the caterpillars safe from grazing animals.
The caterpillars come in 2 colour forms, a black and a yellowy-green. Urtica dioica is a dioecious, herbaceous, perennial plant, 1 to 2 m (3 to 7 ft) tall in the summer and dying down to the ground in winter. The ones that do are - Peacock, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma. It has widely spreading rhizomes and stolons, which are bright yellow, as are the roots.The soft, green leaves are 3 to 15 cm (1 to 6 in) long and are borne oppositely on an erect, wiry, green stem.
Credit: ... After a couple of weeks the caterpillars hatch and spin a communal silk web, feasting on the nettles together before gradually venturing out into the open.