What are these caterpillars?

Factual Questions
1

What are these monstrous caterpillars I found in my garden this evening?

http://flickr.com/photos/hyotenka_v/sets/72157606965963723/

They are not hairy but sort of fleshy and velvety, as big as my thumb or bigger. The leaves they are on are about half my palm in size (I have small hands). They are very beautiful but they are absolutely stripping my plants and I am worried that they will move to other bushes and trees in my garden.

I live in Hokkaido in the north of Japan, should that be relevant. I have tried to search images but I have no idea where to start really. I am hoping there’s a caterpillar king or queen on the Dope…

What are they and how should I get rid of them? Help!

(Having said that it is midnight here and I am off to bed but I will certainly be back in the morning!)

2

I want to say some type of hawkmoth caterpillar. The eyespots and body postures just seem to point me in that direction. I don’t know what species, though.

3

It’s not a sphinx moth caterpillar…hmmm

4

Hooded owlet maybe…

5

There’s a sphynx moth caterpillar here
7859 - Pandorus Sphynx moth - Eumorpha pandorus by Tom Murray
that is vaguely similar, but not really…

The other moths you suggested are very different.

Any more ideas? I would hesitate to get rid of them if they are something beautiful or unusual but in the meantime they are chomping their way through my bushes at an alarming rate. You can see the leaves disappearing and the ground is littered with tic-tac sized poos!

It is pouring with rain today so I can’t do anything about it anyway but I really want to know if KILL KILL KILLING them is going to be damaging something rare…

6

My son found it in a Japanese insect reference book! Good lad!

It is an “Akebi Konoha” in Japanese, and its latin name is Adris tyrannus amurensis which apparently doesn’t have a common name.

There’s a page in Japanese about them here:

http://aoki2.si.gunma-u.ac.jp/youtyuu/HTMLs/akebikonoha020921.html

Akebi is known as the Chocolate Vine in English, so that’s something I learned today! It is indeed the bush that the caterpillars are on. Mine gets the flowers but not the big fruit pods.

I felt like a murderer but I did spray some of the bugs today, simply because there are so many of them. I will keep an eye out and try not to just decimate them if they don’t decimate the bush!

7

Cool. BTW, if these two young ladies come around looking for it. . . run for cover!

8

I think that those caterpillars are going to turn into a hoard of their sisters! Where is Godzilla when you need him??

9

Call Bear Grylls: Tell him dinner is ready.

10

I don’t know what they are, but they are abso- fucking-lutely spectacular! I wish I had seen this post this morning. My son, as luck would have it, is at this moment on a flight to Japan - a trip he has dreamed about for many years. I would have shown him what might be in store for him.

11

I found out that they do have an English common name: they are called fruit piercing moths, and they are a real pest for fruit farmers as they do so much damage.

Sad, because as you say, they are so beautiful.