News Animals This caterpillar wears the body parts of insect prey The “bone collector” caterpillar’s outfit acts as camouflage A newly discovered caterpillar weaves the remains of insect prey onto a protective case (several shown) worn for camouflage, a new study suggests. Rubinoff lab/Entomology Section/University of Hawaii at Mānoa By McKenzie Prillaman 1 hour ago A severed ant head. A fly wing. A beetle abdomen. These body parts ripped from devoured insects festoon a newfound caterpillar’s protective coat. Dubbed the “bone collector,” this caterpillar species sports remains of prey as camouflage while it stalks spider webs for trapped bugs, researchers report in the April 25 Science. The carnivorous caterpillar, found on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, is the first known by scientists to live in spider hunting grounds and fully decorate itself with body parts. Relatively few caterpillars eat meat, with about 300 carnivorous varieties out of nearly 200,000 documented moth and butterfly species. The bone collector caterpillar belongs to the Hyposmocoma genus, also called Hawaiian fancy case caterpillars, endemic to the islands. Body parts belonging to at least six different families of insects (some labeled) have been found woven onto caterpillar cases. Unlabeled pieces are skin shed from a host spider.Rubinoff lab/Entomology Section/University of Hawaii at Mānoa Body parts belonging to at least six different families of insects (some labeled) have been found woven onto caterpillar cases. Unlabeled pieces are skin shed from a host spider.Rubinoff lab/Entomology Section/University of Hawaii at Mānoa While walking in the Waianae Mountains more than 20 years ago, entomologist Dan Rubinoff and colleagues spied an odd caterpillar next to a spider web in a tree hole. “It [was] covered in little bits of bug,” says Rubinoff, of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in Honolulu. He initially dismissed it as a curious coincidence but eventually kept crossing paths with more weird larvae. In all, he and others spotted 62 bone collector caterpillars over two decades, but only within a 15-square-kilometer range. Each caterpillar takes up residence in a spider web enclosed in a tree, log or rock cavity. (Only one caterpillar usually inhabits a web, since they will eat one another.) There, the caterpillar lurks, waiting to prey on insects stuck in the web while masking its scent and texture with leftovers from the spider’s meals and skin shed by its eight-legged landlord. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.