The species, dubbed the "bone collector," belongs to an ancient lineage of moths older than the Hawaiian island of Oahu, which is the only place it's known to live today ...

Carnivory itself is unusual for caterpillars. Among butterflies and moths, 99.9 percent eat plants or fungi, Rubinoff says. But bone collector caterpillars slink through cobwebs in rotted logs ...

It belongs to an unusual genus called Hyposmocoma moths, known as fancy case caterpillars in their larval stage. Much as hermit crabs borrow shells, fancy case caterpillars craft elaborate homes ...

Unfortunately, the unique caterpillar’s continued survival is likely under threat, since it’s only known to exist on a single mountain range on one Hawaiian island. Caterpillars are the larval ...

It isn’t often that you see spiders and caterpillars cohabitating. Caterpillars are often at the very bottom of the food chain, so it’s very unusual to find a species that isn’t. Thanks to their ...

Caterpillars are the moth's larval stage ... the "bone collector" is the only one known to find food the way it does, making it unique among the world's animals. "The more we can understand ...

Essentially, the spiders have never been observed attacking or eating these caterpillars. Another unusual trait is the caterpillar's exclusive choice of insect parts or spider exoskeletons for ...

The unique epithet befits a unique animal, Rubinoff said. “No other caterpillar is stupid enough to live in a spider’s web,” he said. “Because spiders eat caterpillars.” “It has to ...

This Hawaiian caterpillar raids spiderwebs camouflaged in insect prey’s body parts, and it's not above cannibalism in a pinch. Credit: Rubinoff lab/University of Hawaii, Manoa. We think of moths ...