Welche Raupe?

Dear lepidoptera-adepts,

Yesterday a big hairy caterpillar stumbled across me on a hike trough some warm and dry sand dune terrain. The creature looked distinctly Lasiocampidae to my unexperienced eye. But I could not recall having seen this one before. I thought determination would not be hard, since there are only about 15 species of Lasiocampidae around in The Netherlands.

Still I am at a loss. I keep coming out at Lemonia dumi as most probable candidate. But for all the information I can find on that species, it is very rare in The Netherlands (last reported sighting appears to be from 1993) and was never found anywhere near the place I found it. So I believe me determination effort does not arrive at the correct destination.

Perhaps there is a Lasiocampidae-expert among you who can help me out?

I try to include a picture, but I did not have the right equipment lying around, so bear with me on that one...

I hope someone can help me out on this puzzle!

Best regards,
Harmen

Dear Armin,

I think you may be right. It does resemble L. quercus, which is much more common here. Most pics I found from this species however showed lighter brown haired caterpillars, but colours can vary of course. Furthermore, the larval stage of L. quercus is stated to appear roughly between September and May. This then must be a laggard, since the creature is still crawling around end of June...

I will try to offer some new food and see if it sticks. Until now it did not feed at all on Taraxacum or Hieracium, which makes Lemonia less likely. But since the caterpillar is quite large already, it may have stopped feeding altogether in preparation of pupation.

The funny critter is still very fond of direct, hot sunlight. It actively moves to the brightest spot in its cage. Unlike most othere caterpillars I encountered so far. I get a bit worried it might dry out. But the beast itself does not share those concerns it seems  

I´ll let you know if it takes to eating birch leaves or so...

Best regards,
Harmen

It appears Armin here was quite right. The caterpillar in my care chose bramble leaves for food. Rubus spp. is stated as one of the major host plants of L. quercus. So this seems to be consistent.