Viewing post #1191527 by JRsbugs

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Jun 23, 2016 7:51 AM CST
Name: Janet Super Sleuth
Near Lincoln UK
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The article mentions several types of moth caterpillar as their prey, in several families which are mostly smaller caterpillars. No butterfly cats are mentioned, it seems they prey on moths but I don't know for sure. Insects such as wasps and Tachinid flies 'usually' target certain species.

I can't copy and paste those mentioned but it includes fruitworm moths, maple webworm moths, grape leaf-roller.

Nature is designed to control species, it's a food chain. If there was no control then damaging species would take over. Man is too often responsible for interfering with nature's delicate balance then people wonder why they have a problem. Kill your predators, then you will have to kill your pests, and line the pockets of the big companies who delight in telling you how to kill everything.

My garden, when I first filled it with beds of plants, had bad infestations of aphids. I learnt to leave them alone as I found ladybug larvae amongst the masses of aphids, then you have syrphid fly larvae which live on aphids along with birds which will pick aphids off your plants along with caterpillars. Destroying your caterpillars will leave birds with no food for their young. We have a small bird called the Blue Tit, it nests only once a year and has up to 10 young. Each young bird needs up to 100 caterpillars per day. Other birds such as Sparrows and Starlings feed their young on all sorts of insects, wasps included!

Unless a species is a very destructive recently introduced species (red lily beetle!) then nature should be left to do the job, it's been doing it since time began.

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