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You Are What You Eat, Literally
By Eliza Bicknell of Lotus Petal Yoga
As an adult, the Nemoria arizonaria is a brilliant yet nondescript emerald moth with a one-inch wingspan. As a caterpillar however, Nemoria arizonaria is anything but nondescript, its nature’s amazing transformer. Young are hatched in the spring and then again in the late summer/early fall. They all look the same when hatched, yet once they start to eat, a startling metamorphosis occurs. Those hatched in the spring eat the readily available and highly nutritious flowers, or catkins. And, as a result, they grow to look like golden fuzzy colored catkins of their oak tree home. They are a rich yellow color, with many small projections on their body. They also have brown dots along the back that mimic the stamens on a catkin. Those hatched later in the summer/fall, however, when catkins are not available; eat the twigs and sometimes the leaves of the oak tree. As a result, they end up looking like twigs. Another words, for the Nemoria Arizonaria, you truly are what you eat. Summer/fall born caterpillars have other features that set them apart form their genetically identical brothers and sisters hatched in the spring. They have much bigger jaws, enabling them to eat the leathery oak leaves and twigs available at that time. However, it is the caterpillars born in the spring that have a distinct advantage. Catkins are more nutritious than leaves and twigs, so these caterpillars are larger in size when they pupate. In addition, a caterpillar that lives among leaves rather than flowers also faces a greater risk of being detected and eaten by birds. Dr. Erick Greene, a researcher from the University of California at Davis is the scientist credited with the discovery of this remarkable animal transformer. A birder by trade, Dr. Greene was studying insect eating birds when he noticed a catkin walking away from him. He recalls "I just about fell out of the tree when I found it.”. To get to the bottom of the transformation mystery, Dr. Greene subjected eight groups of recently hatched N. arizonaria to different temperatures, day-lengths and diet regimens for 15 days. He found that only the diet, composed of either catkins o r leaves, created the transformation. To take it one step futher, he then used an artificial diet composed of plant chemicals known as tannins. His results showed that tannins alone will prompt a caterpillar to develop a twig-like appearance. Dr. Greene is still investigating which tannins are important or how tannin levels affect develoment. A few other animal species including several insects have the capacity to develop into different phenoptypes (forms) depending on external variables. Nemoria arizonaria is the first known case however, in which the diet, rather than light or temperature, dramatically influences an individual insect's appearance.
So make note the next time you visit the southwest and ponder an oak tree, for you may see the twigs move or maybe the flowers crawl, but what you really might be witnessing is natures amazing little transformer, the Nemoria arizonaria.
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Contributor's Note
I teach biology and used this little caterpillar to illustrate the scientific method in class.
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So each one of these critters has the complete blueprint for either result, and the diet decides which blueprint is used?  Mind-blowing. I never cease to be amazed by the sheer ingenuity of nature's wonders.
All that I can think to say is "that's amazing!' The only other thing I can imagine is something like a hydrangea (flower) which varies it's color based on the soil.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Hi and thanks for commenting here and becoming a follower. I am new to this site. I was wondering if you could tell me what the balcklist and white list are? also perhaps we ahve already found eachother at squidoo? Ill check into that now. These caterpillars are really amazing! Hopefully I can write more about some weird biological things thanks
People often try to tell me that humans are special because we are the only animal that can laugh, cry, dance, and so on - and this is true. But many other species are also special and this bug is a perfect example. Thank you for telling me about it. I shall add it to my list of very special animals, along with the spitting fish, the cultivator ant, and of course those bipeds with opposable thumbs.
 | | nick Dec 31, 2009 16:32 | |
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