Common Crow Caterpillar from Australia

bugman

April 29th, 2006 at 12:00 am

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Caterpillar ID
I was hoping you could help me identify these two caterpillars. The brown and green coloured ones (I assume two colour variations of the same species) are on a Taro plant. The tiny caterpillar with the egg is a freshly hatched caterpillar of the same species. The second caterpillar is on a small fig tree. I was thinking perhaps it could be related to a Monarch as they were the most similar pictures i could find. I am located in the Brisbane area, Queensland. By the way, love your site. Do you know of any good Australian caterpillar/butterfly Id sites? I have done lot’s of searching but haven’t come across anything anywhere near as good as this site. Thanks for your help!
Rebecca

Hi Rebecca,
The brown and green Sphinx Moth caterpillars will be very difficult for us to get a species identification, and we cannot spend the hours of online searching it will take. You will have to be satisfied with just the family Sphingidae. The gloriously beautiful Danainae caterpillar is related to the Monarch. It is the Common Australian Crow, Euploea core corinna. Your caterpillar photo is stunning. Regarding a good site for Australian Butterflies, try http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_butters/index.html though we here at What’s That Bug? are seriously thinking of applying for grant money to set up What’s That Australian Bug? or What’s That Bug Down Under? since we get so many fabulous letters from Australia with wonderful photos. Sadly, right now it is just a thought.

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