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HELP, we’re losing sleep!!
okay – I don’t mean to hound you talented and brilliant bug identifiers, BUT… This caterpillar is driving us crazy. I sent a picture to you (image 1) yesterday, and after 12 or so hours of total inactivity this little friend crept out of his skin and turned into someone else (image 2). Now, still inactive. My 6 year old son and I have scoured your site and others to identify this little beast, but to no avail. Oh please, help us. I know our guy is not exciting, but he is nowhere on your site. So at least he’s original! We are in Kansas, and he was found on a cherry tree eating like a maniac. I’ll send both pics. 24 hours apart. THANK YOU.
Lee and Page in Prairie Village, KS

Hi Lee and Page,
These are early instars of a Paddle Caterpillar, Acronicta funeralis, also knows as the Funerary Dagger Moth. BugGuide has some nice photo documentation of the changes the caterpillar goes through. By the time the caterpillar grows to its fifth and final instar, it is not recognizeable as the bird poop caterpillar you first photographed. We do have at least one image of a final instar caterpillar somewhere in our archives, but your photos are filling in some nice blanks in the metamorphosis. We hope you will continue to send us photos as the caterpillar changes. Put Paddle Caterpillar in the subject line if you send additional images.

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