It sounds like something out of a horror movie, but it happens more often than you might think in the insect world: viruses taking over their hosts and driving them towards death so that the virus might more easily spread to other victims.
I’d assume exposure/dehydration. The virus controls all movement, so it makes the caterpillar walk up a plant and doesn’t have it move again. Efficient and likely a trafficed area by other caterpillars as well I’d bet.
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I’d assume exposure/dehydration. The virus controls all movement, so it makes the caterpillar walk up a plant and doesn’t have it move again. Efficient and likely a trafficed area by other caterpillars as well I’d bet.