Photo 249254185, (c) katiemcgee25, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Attribution © katiemcgee25
some rights reserved
Uploaded by katiemcgee25 katiemcgee25
Source iNaturalist
Associated observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Horn Moth (Ceratophaga vastella)

Observer

katiemcgee25

Date

August 18, 2017 12:28 PM EAT

Description

This is a Defassa Waterbuck skull. I am looking at the organisms growing on the horns. Based on some reading I believe they are Hornworm Moths but I can't find any other information about them other than this excerpt from a book about the Serengeti called Lions Share by Jeanette Hanby: “Eventually the last in the chain of eaters would arrive, the hornworm moth. On the horns they laid their eggs which would later hatch into caterpillars and devour the sheaths. While eating their tough dry meal, the larvae would protect their soft bodies with twig-like tubes of horn fragments. Finally only the bone core would be left to be whittled away by sun and rain into food for the grasses.”

Sizes