These ones are Sawfly Caterpillars.

Imagine you're deep in the forest, and you come across this.. thing. It's a group of caterpillars, moving in a formation known as a rolling swarm.
If you're anything like me, your first reaction will be to get down to their level and and study them.
What these caterpillars are up to. Why are they moving in this strange way?
The first thought is there is safety in numbers. Which one will the predator pick given that there a couple dozen of them?
So I looked further into this phenomenon and there is another reason.
There is a simple, but mind-blowing idea. Anyone who's been on one of those endless moving walkways at airports knows that if you walk on a moving belt, you'll get to the end faster.
And so these caterpillars have essentially built a caterpillar-powered conveyor belt. Unlike a typical conveyor belt, this one never runs out, because the caterpillars keep disassembling and re-assembling it.
The really surprising thing is that this entire rolling swarm of caterpillars moves faster than any single caterpillar can.
The caterpillars on the top are getting a speed boost. But the ones at the bottom are still trudging along at their regular speed. So why does the entire group get a speed boost?
Every caterpillar spends some time on each 'floor'. At the ground floor, a caterpillar moves at normal speed.
The next floor up, it's moving at 2X speed, because the floor is moving forward and so is the caterpillar.
The next layer up, it's moving at 3X speed, because the floor is moving at 2X speed, and so on.
Every single caterpillar has spent some time moving slowly in the first floor, and some time moving faster in the higher floors.
On average, its speed is somewhere in between - faster than a lone caterpillar, but slower than the caterpillars on the top.

These Caterpillars are not the grubs of a moth of a butterfly.
It is the grub stage of an Australian Sawfly.

Sawflies are closely related to ants, wasps and bees though they do not possess a sting.

Hi Bretrick, living on the other side of our "island" I don't recall ever encountering those intriguing li'l critters that you describe.

However, right here on my property I've had some of their 'relatives' These walk instead in extremely long lines - head to tail, and they are hairy ( and ITCHY so I am told. )
These are very dark or black in colour.
Thankfully I haven't encountered any here in ages.

Come to think of it I haven't seen any millipedes in ages either.

Wouldn't mind a few extra legs like some of these guys, as mine at my age aren't like they used to be.



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Curiousity prompted me to look further but the furtherererererer I looked the more confused I became.

Nonetheless I did find some interesting articles & pics like this one ....

www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/cr...rous-than-they-look/



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OldBloke wrote: Hi Bretrick, living on the other side of our "island" I don't recall ever encountering those intriguing li'l critters that you describe.

However, right here on my property I've had some of their 'relatives' These walk instead in extremely long lines - head to tail, and they are hairy ( and ITCHY so I am told. )
These are very dark or black in colour.
Thankfully I haven't encountered any here in ages.
Doing research, they appear to be Processionary Caterpillars.
Processionary Caterpillars can be very dangerous to Humans and pets.
Unfortunately, it’s their hairs that cause the problems. These hairs are designed to be brittle and can barb the skin in contact. They can also float through the air. It is when you come into contact with these many hairs is where the problem can happen.
When Humans come into contact with their hairs we can develop from mild to serious reactions, some can break out in hives, welts, itchy eyes and these can last for weeks. With the penetration of the hairs if they go into your eyes it can affect or at worse cause loss of vision.
With dogs/cats the hairs may come into contact with their eyes and cause irritation or it may be on their paws and if they lick their paws or if they are a type of dog to bite the caterpillar it can get on their mouth/tongue and it may cause itching, swelling and possibly vomiting. If your pet does come into contact check for small white spots on the mouth and tongue and excess drooling and take them immediately to the Vet.

d-tec.com.au/2018/10/03/processionary-caterpillars/




Come to think of it I haven't seen any millipedes in ages either.

Wouldn't mind a few extra legs like some of these guys, as mine at my age aren't like they used to be.



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Cast your mind - back to 1976 (if you can) - That year was HOT - as I was coming home from work
There were Trillions - of Ladybirds littering the ground in - Kent - I must have killed thousands
with my bike wheels - as well as other people, Some one else reported their cars were covered - with them.

man of kent wrote: Cast your mind - back to 1976 (if you can) - That year was HOT - as I was coming home from work
There were Trillions - of Ladybirds littering the ground in - Kent - I must have killed thousands
with my bike wheels - as well as other people, Some one else reported their cars were covered - with them.

And also there was the year of the greenflies……again it was hot……if you had an eye cream to cool you, then mint choc chip was a good choice as you didn’t notice the greenfly so much when they landed on it.

Pats wrote:
And also there was the year of the greenflies……again it was hot……if you had an eye cream to cool you, then mint choc chip was a good choice as you didn’t notice the greenfly so much when they landed on it.

Hmm ? ..... ?eye? cream with mint choc chip & greenfly?
My goodness Pats you do have some interesting 'tastes'

My earliest memory is of a very hot summer in England when we had a plague of large caterpillars. I remember filling my shoes with them and putting handfuls of them in my sister's toy pram. I was probably about 2 and a half so that would make it the summer of 1965.

OldBloke wrote: Curiousity prompted me to look further but the furtherererererer I looked the more confused I became.

Nonetheless I did find some interesting articles & pics like this one ....

www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/cr...rous-than-they-look/



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Hairy Mclary. I don’t like the look of those