All sewn up, part three

After sealing itself up inside the hydrangea leaves, what did the hydrangea leaftier caterpillar do?  From the outside, there was no obvious sign that the caterpillar was feeding on the leaves.

Hydrangea leaves after an encounter with a hydrangea leaftier (Olethreutes ferriferana) caterpillar.

Pulling apart one of the older leaf capsules to see what was happening inside, I found something that did not look very much like a caterpillar.

Nested inside the sealed leaves was a sealed bundle.

It looked a lot like a clump of moldy frass, but I tried separating it anyway -- and out popped a twitching pupa.

Inside the cocoon was a hydrangea leaftier (Olethreutes ferriferana) pupa.

By tying the hydrangea leaves together and then forming a cocoon inside, the caterpillar had made a snug refuge with multiple layers of security to protect it during its metamorphosis into a moth.