Unknown Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar from Guatemala is identified

danielj

July 24th, 2008 at 12:00 am

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What kind of animal is this?
Hi,
I would like to know if you people know what kind of animal this is. Country: Guatemala. Region: Petén. City: Tikal. Size: 6-7 centimers. We touched the animal with a wooden stick and then it made some attack move or something. His tongue came out like some sort of snake. The movie were it can be seen is over here: http://jasperstevens.nl/mexico/beest.mov Thanks in advance,
Jasper Stevens
The Netherlands

swallowtail cat guatemala Unknown Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar from Guatemala is identified

hi Jasper,
This is some species of Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar, probably in the genus Papilio. The tongue you describe is a scent gland known as an osmetrium. We will try to identify the species of this pretty caterpillar.

Update:
Caterpillar Identifications
Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 8:57 PM
Hello again, Daniel.
a few other IDs and correction.
Yes, this wandering prepupa (compare its faded coloration to this caterpillar still feeding on an avocado leaf: http://www.flickr.com/photos/missingchandra/76362584/ ) will soon metamorphose into one of the 11 or so butterflies in the ” Pyrrhosticta ” group of Papilio swallowtails — P. cleotas ,P. garamas ,P. victorinus , etc.
I hope the above information is helpful.
Best wishes,
Keith Wolfe
aka “EarlyStages”

Trackbacks & Pingbacks 1

From Mexican Swallowtail Caterpillar | What's That Bug? on 09 Sep 2009 at 5:42 am ¶
[...] ‘ group of Papilio swallowtails — P. cleotas ,P. garamas ,P. victorinus , etc.” as previously identified on our site by Keith Wolfe. The red horns are a defense organ known as the osmetrium that releases an odor some predators [...]