Potted nettles

[Susie]

I have a pot of nettles on which something has laid some eggs. The only reason I know this is about four little "tents" of silk have appeared on the plant. As the caterpillars appear to be singular in each tent I am hoping that they are either red admiral or comma.

So, my question is, do comma caterpillars make tents in the same way as red admiral caterpillars?

I do realise that they probably aren't butterfly caterpillars at all and probably something completely different!

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Susie - do you have a photo?

Definitely not Comma - and Red Admiral don't really build tents as such - until the last instar; they simply fold the sides of the leaf upward (if that makes sense) ... and they're dead easy to spot in a patch of nettles!

I suspect this is a moth larva of some sort.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Dave McCormick]

It could be Udea lutealis, I have notice the caterpillars living in tents in leaves: http://www.ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=1884 they are found this time of year, but I don't know what the caterpillars you have look like and the adults of udea lutealis are not found this time of year. Its a bit early to my knowledge to have Small Tortoiseshell laying eggs, usually a few weeks before anything like that happens.

[Susie]

Thanks.

They are too small for me to successfully take a photograph of at the moment but I will when they are bigger.

[Susie]

I don't suppose it helps in the identification any but the caterpillars are very pale with what appears to be two black spots on the back of their necks, the three pairs of fore legs are black too, and they may have dark speckles on their bodies but it is hard to make that out yet (they are still only millimetres long).