Feed me!
Spodoptera eridania (southern armyworm) | reared from lab colony on soybean
Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2012
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Beetles In The Bush
Experiences and reflections of a Missouri entomologist
Spodoptera eridania (southern armyworm) | reared from lab colony on soybean
Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2012
Beetles In The Bush 
Are those ocelli just back of the mandibles, or is this caterpillar entirely blind?
Yes, those are ocelli. They don’t do much other than detect light/dark and movement—certainly not able to make out images to any degree.
Ocelli, rather than the larval precursors of the compound eyes?
To be entirely correct, the “ocelli” of larval lepidopterans are more properly called stemmata and are, like most of the caterpillar body, “throw away” structures that are broken down during pupation. The resulting “soup” provides raw material for the imaginal discs, from which all adult body structures (incl. compound eyes) are built.
Love!
🙂