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Unidentified Caterpillars
Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 9:26 PM
Hi! I found this first caterpillar in Cap-aux-Os, on September 4th, during a trip in the region of Gaspésie (Eastern Québec, Canada). Back home, I was surprised to find a very simillar caterpillar, 20 days later, this time in Sainte-Émélie-de-l’Énergie (an hour north of Montreal). I am sending pictures of both caterpillars. I hope you can help me identify them. Thank you!
Béatrice
Québec (Canada)

Fingered Dagger Moth Caterpillar

Hi Beatrice,
Both of your caterpillars look like Fingered Dagger Moth Caterpillars, Acronicta dactylina, also called the Alder Dagger Moth Caterpillar. According to BugGuide, the species is “uncommon but widely distributed” and describes the caterpillar as: “Larva: body covered with stiff orange or brown hair dorsally, and pale yellowish or white hair laterally, with several much longer black hairs and white hairs concentrated near the front and back (may also have three dense dorsal tufts of long black hair on abdominal segments 1, 3, and .”

Fingered Dagger Moth Caterpillar

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