Pupating moth larvae sense and avoid the Sun

BBC : The larva of Calindoea trifascialis, a species of moth native to Vietnam, wraps itself in a leaf, drops to the ground, and then spends three days hopping around blindly until it finds a suitable spot to pupate. Although it cannot see through its leafy cover, the insect instinctively avoids sunlight by jumping along until it finds a shady spot. To see exactly how the insects move, Kim Humphreys of the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada and colleagues designed transparent leaf rolls from plastic. According to their study published in Biology Letters, the caterpillars were observed to anchor their rear end to the floor of their shelter and lower their head, then jerk their front end backward, causing them to leap up and back. The researchers think the caterpillars drop to the ground to avoid predators, but then are vulnerable to overheating by the Sun and must seek shade. “Perhaps there are interesting aspects of the biology of other larvae that are remaining to be discovered,” said Humphreys.