Brown C: what is the disease?

[skates4marty]

I have done web searches off and on for 2 days. Most of the coverage is of Oe, and the photos of Oe-infected C's show mottled black or gray. I can't find info on what this photo shows: sharply delineated brown early in the life of the C, which then spreads. Anyone know?

[Mona Miller]

Look at this website, it could be fly or wasp:

Parasitoids: Wasps and Tachnid Flies
http://www.evansonart.com/monarchdisease.html

[skates4marty]

OK, I'll ask a different question: Has anyone else had a C that looked like this? I know my mummified fifth instar was unusual, but surely I can't have ANOTHER rare disease. BTW: I have submitted a Q on this to MonarchLab.

[Mona Miller]

If fly larvae come out, then you will definitely know that a fly laid on it. I found a pupa outside today that looked just like that and there were holes in the side. Fly larvae push their way out when they are finished eating. YUCK!

[skates4marty]

I'll be happy (relatively) to see maggots, because those are not contagious. For this part of the season (Aug-Sept), I've lost about 7% to T-fly (in J-stage). I found a new plot and kept finding 4th's and 5th's, and I started to put them in a separate cage, to see if it was these older cats, or the ones from that plot, were T-infected. But it wasn't them.

[Mona Miller]

I am starting to recognize larger instars that have been hit by the flies. They have damage that shows up as black marks on the caterpillar.