unidentified caterpillar

[mc1970]

Hello,

I'm growing a couple of blueberry bushes this year and have found this caterpillar which appears to have eaten through a fair few leaves . It is a fairly lengthy 7cm long and in sections with a fairly tough skin. It went completely rigid when we pulled the head end away from the blueberry stem. I've never seen one like it in many a year of gardening but then I've never grown blueberries before. I'm not planning in squishing it in case it's something rare.

Any ideas ?

[digthatchick]

It looks like a Looper Moth caterpillar to me. They come in various disguises and are harmless so let it live

[roitelet]

Not much help but a looper of some sort. They are usually moth caterpillars

[FB.]

Those kinds of stem/twig-mimicking "looper" caterpillars usually only appear singly or in very small numbers, so unlikely to be a serious problem.

If it's just the odd caterpillar, and the plant still has three quarters of its leaf area intact, I would leave it alone; it won't do enough harm to make much difference to the plant.

Gooseberry sawfly, on the other hand, usually appear suddenly and in overwhelming numbers, so gooseberry (and related) plant growers need to be vigilant. But the caterpillar in your picture isn't a sawfly caterpillar and it isn't attacking a gooseberry.

[ginger ninger]

It looks like a " Shoulder Stripped moth " caterpillar,
Shoulder-stripe Anticlea badiata - UKMoths

[Two_Sheds]

It's saying 'I'm a twig, you can't see me'

[snohare]

I don't know TS, that's bound to be wrong - it hasn't twigged....

[mc1970]

Thanks for the quick identification. I could only find the one so it's been left to happily munch through as many leaves as it needs. I'm assuming it won't grow much bigger.