From Wikimalia
| The Bug Collection
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| Tinman Caterpillar
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| Habitat: | Temperate forests.
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| Description: | Approximately two to four thums long, this thick-bodied caterpillar is colored in tinges of green that are reminiscent of oxidized tin---hence its name. It moves about in an accordion-like fashion, compacting and expanding in nearly straight lines. The rear segment of its body sports a pair of false eyes, colored nearly identically to its real ones. When confronted, it elevates its rear in an aggressive display.
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| Notes: | A voracious consumer of leafy greens, the Tinman and its kin can devastate a single tree in a matter of days. The prolific insect hatches from clutches that number in the thousands. Their excrement, a thick yellowish syrup, has a pungent musky stench, and hardens quickly. This as much as their feeding damages the leaves of their host tree, coating the leaves enough to reduce photosynthesis, and eventually toxicifying entire limbs. Orchard owners are known to ring their trees with a solution of lye, goat's milk and salt to discourage this insatiable herbivore.
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This caterpillar is the larval form of the Mithril Moth.
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