Colourful Caterpillars

An unexpected encounter yesterday:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO800, f5.6, 1/125s}

It is the caterpillar of the lackey moth (Malacosoma neustria), ringelrups in Dutch.

Here's an older photo of the same species:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO200, f8, 1/50s, repost}

The butterfly that will grow out of this is pretty, but not colourful at all.

The same goes for this one, the caterpillar of the pale tussock (Calliteara pudibunda), meriansborstel in Dutch:

^{Olympus XZ-1, 28mm, ISO100, f5.6, 1/25s, repost}

Butterflies and moths aren't always prettier or more colourful than their caterpillars, so be careful with caterpillarish metaphores.

Thanks for watching, and try to avoid stepping on these!