Cecropia caterpillar shedding penultimate larval skin - 7-19-2011

Early on, you can see that the old skin had stretched and become loose, including some folded areas mainly between segments. Watch how the caterpillar flexes the segments to further loosen the old skin. The head capsule comes off as a unit and the caterpillar brushes against the leaf to get it free. Finally, the caterpillar stretches out and exits the last of the old skin.

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• Cecropiasheddinglarvalskin