Caterpillar
Hello, Was looking thru your site trying to id this fella and my wife said to just ask you. So… We’ve been able to id a few of the Caterpillars we have seen in our butterfly garden thru your site. So thanks for that! My wife found it yesterday on the Violets and Veronica plants. It seems to be about an inch long and red body, white patches, and black “spikes”. I think we are close looking at some of the other fellas on your site (Variegated Fritillary Caterpillar ?) , but just wanted to know for sure. Thanks in advance,
Chris & Valerie
North Carolina

Hi Chris and Valerie,
Finding a spiny caterpillar on violets is always a good indication that the caterpillar is one of the Fritillaries. Most are difficult to distinguish from one another, but we are confident that you have correctly identified your Variegated Fritillary.

Black Spikey Caterpillar
Dear What’s That Bug,
My son and I found this black spikey caterpillar in the backyard eating some cottonwood leaves. It is mostly black with a lot of tiny white dots, tiny white hairs, and long black spikes all over its body. It also has five pairs of orange feet and rust colored spots down the middle of its back. We think it looks similar to a mourning cloak caterpillar that we saw on your site. Is that what it is? Thank you
Damon

Hi Damon,
You are correct in your identification of this Mourning Cloak Caterpillar..

Any idea what this catapillar is?
This is on a small willow tree in our yard on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, and I have never seen one that looks like this before. No luck so far in finding out what it is. It’s rear is raised and head tucked under at the end with the yellow. Large brown head & 2 spirally dark spikes. Any chance someone there knows? It is about 2 inches long. Thanks,
Ian.

Hi Ian,
This is a White Admiral Caterpillar, Limenitis arthemis. The White Admiral is the northern subspecies and the Red Spotted Purple is the southern subspecies. Where the two subspecies overlap in range, there is a gradual intergradations of physical characteristics. A third subspecies is the Western White Admiral.

Lesson Learned in Florida
Last spring, I tried in vain to keep eight, young, butterfly plants alive in my modest flower garden. “How wonderful it would be to attract beautiful butterflies”, I thought. To my dismay, fat, yellow, aphids appeared by the dozens on each little plant. They were herded by fire ants from a nearby nest. For weeks, I squished aphids, always marveling at the protectiveness of the ants and sheer numbers of aphids they managed. While walking in the cattle pasture one day, I saw an entire plant covered with aphids. I was horrified that the source of these bugs was a weed that had appeared in our pastures in record abundance, presumably due to a long drought experienced here in northern Florida. Since we raise natural beef cattle, I picked many of these weeds by hand out of our pastures, but to my dismay, as I picked them, their seed pods were already releasing fluffy seeds for next year. This spring, the population of these plants was even higher than last year! So, I began picking these plants early this year, well before they could complete their seed pods. I didn’t get far before I noticed a caterpillar on one of the plants. It was a monarch! (See pictures below). I looked at my hands and noticed the milky substance from the few plants I had already picked. How ironic that I waged a (thankfully) unsuccessful war against what turned out to be a milkweed native to Florida because I wanted to save a few measly butterfly plants! How completely human of me. Little did I know that I had several hundred or more plants in the pastures that were the perfect diet for the very creature I was seeking to attract. I have learned my lesson and sworn off meddling with milkweeds or anything else unless I know for certain that it is a threat to native wildlife.
Alicia

Hi Alicia,
Thank you for writing one of the best letters we have received in a long time. We are excited to post your photo of a Monarch Caterpillar.

Glad you enjoyed it! I’m researching when these caterpillars will complete their pupa stage and emerge as butterflies. We plan to rotate the cattle in our other pastures until then to keep the monarchs safe. We already made changes in our livestock management to accommodate two other threatened species: gopher tortoises and Sherman fox squirrels. Gratefully,
Alicia

Interesting caterpillar
Here are some photos of a very small and strange looking caterpillar we have in our backyard. It has a large and noble head with the two horns. It looks like nothing else on your neat site. The caterpillar spent the night evidently going around in circles on the top of a bucket. When I placed it on a plant it inched off. Tried a striped ivy and now he is climbing a hackberry. Does it look familiar to you? Thanks so much.
Randy and Jan
San Antonio, Texas

Hi Randy and Jan,
If this is not a Hackberry Emperor Caterpillar, Asterocampa celtis, then it is one of the other Emperors in the same genus.