Adventures in History Rare blue caterpillar found in Australian backyard

Tristan Gleason, an Australian, found a blue caterpillar in his backyard last Monday, 8. Shocked by the rare and iconic animal, the man took a picture of the insect to share on social media.

In an interview with the British newspaper Daily Mail, tristan Something talked about the unusual find in her backyard: “To be honest, she found it a little weirder than I expected.”

The man, who lives in the Australian capital city of Canberra, also completed the statement, describing what he expected to receive:

I was expecting to find a normal orange caterpillar, not a giant blue insect,” he said.

Nathan Lou, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Sydney, helped to understand more about the insect, explaining that it would be a species of butterfly or moth, noting that the pigment in the animal must not be natural:

I am not sure about the species and whether it is native to Australia… but it is blue because it is infected with an iridovirus,” he clarified.

According to the scientist, the color is because iridoviruses cause crystals to form inside their hosts and they appear blue.