Art is all around us and can take many different shapes and forms. Sometimes nature itself can create fascinating things. At first glance, you may think, cool a caterpillar! But closer examination shows that this caterpillar is INFECTED with some sort of parasite!!…. 🙁 I found this caterpillar in my backyard hanging out on one of the tomato leaves and I immediately took a picture. After consulting a friend who is very knowledgeable of bugs, I learned that this is in fact not a caterpillar at all but actually a Tomato Hornworm (Manduca Quinquemaculata) infected with the cocoons of braconid wasp larvae. The Braconid wasp is a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs inside of the Hornworm. They feed internally on the hornworm, which eventually kills the host. After a period of time the larva emerge to form cocoons on the outside of the worm. This is probably the state at which the worm pictured above is at. After a few days, the wasps emerge and the cycle starts all over again. Nature can be beautiful, fascinating and sometimes terrifying at the same time! Isn’t parasitism cool?!?!
Why, hello there Mr. Worm…..and guests!!
Wow, that’s really cool, Nick, because I’ve always wanted to see a caterpillar in real life, but I never got the chance. however, I did end up spotting a lizard near our college. My friend was going to squash the poor thing like a cockroach, but I stopped him. I felt like watching him move on the floor was a work of art in itself. As a matter of fact, the lizard was a work of art himself, because of the arrangement and beauty of the prints and designs on his skin.
When I used to live in Florida, I would see lizards like I see rats and roaches in New York. So in a way, I felt really happy to see the lizard, probably because I remembered the life I had as a kid back when I used to live in Florida. The lizard had swift movements, and it was difficult to take a snapshot of him. He’s considered exotic when in comes to city animals, so my friend and I just left him alone after I was done taking the picture. I’m going to definitely watch out for more exotic creatures, and so should everybody else who got a chance to see this!
hi nick! This is actually really cool, for a second i thought there was rice on the catepillar… but besides that, I totally agree with you when you say that art can take many different shapes and forms, including nature. Many artists, such as painters, use nature for their works. I find paintings and drawings of nature very beautiful, but I think actually being able to look at nature in real life as a form of art is the best, just as how you were able to actually see the parasitism happening. This made me think about how I should be more aware of the art that is everywhere in NYC so that I would be able to actually see the center of artwork in person.