File:Dysstroma truncata Larva (2).jpg

English: Chloroclysta truncata larva Co. Antrim Ireland.The hairless larva is green with a pink stripe, a perfect match for the strawberry leaf petioles.The caterpillar is curved head up,claspers down. Earlier it was in a loop resembling an unfurling petiole. See a more distant view hereFile:ChloroclystaTruncataLarva (3).jpg

Note Protective resemblance. Geometrid caterpillars do proceed in by looping their slender bodies. Caterpillars of moths in most other families have five pairs of false legs or claspers, in Geometridae there are two pairs, which are close together at the end of the body. When the caterpillars moves, it clings very firmly by the six true legs on the segments close to the headand loosening the grasp of the claspers at the hind end.The claspers are then drawn close to the true legs,arching the body between into a loop. The claspers are then grip tightly to the stem on which the caterpillar is moving, and the body is straightened again so as to find a fresh foothold for the true legs.The movement is smoot and can be fast.

Many geometrid caterpillars spend much time stretched out at full length with the body motionless and rigid and at an angle to the twig or leaf looking like a short or broken twig. Their skins are not hairy and the colours (variously brown,yellow, green and grey) resemble the food plant . Some are have bud-like knobs or scars like bud scars, others are withered or furrowed like the bark of branches or twigs