Orchard Swallowtail Caterpillar and Tailed Emperor Caterpillar from Australia

danielj

March 13th, 2008 at 12:00 am

Tags

interesting catapillars
Hi There,
My son is obsessed with bugs ( at 2 1/2) and so I have taken to photographing them for him. Could you tell me what these catapillars are and what butterfly they turn into. The first ones ( spiky) were both on the same mandarin tree but I did not get to see what chrysalis was, presumalbly because birds ate them? This second cool catapillar ( with horns on it’s head) I think may be off a poincianna tree. What do you think? We live in Brisbane, Australia. The third ( fat brown) catapillar was on a benjamin fig tree and again I think the birds got them. I also am sending in this pic of a cool weevil thing that my son caught and later let go. It was trying very hard to bite him! Thanks, Connor is a real fan even though he can’t read he would sit and look at bug picutres on your site all day if I let him! Yours,
Liza


Orchard Swallowtail Caterpillar	Tailed Emperor Caterpillar

Hi Liza,
The spiky caterpillars on your mandarin tree are Orchard Swallowtail Caterpillars, Papilio aegeus. The caterpillar with a crown of spikes is a Tailed Emperor, Polyura sempronius.