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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Monarch Caterpillar Metamorphosis and Tachinid Fly Parasites

Monarch Bodysnatchers
Hello, Bugman,
I recently placed 2 large monarch caterpillars in an terrarium with some milkweed, so I could watch them go through metamorphosis. All was well… at first. One morning, I found one of the caterpillars hanging from under a branch, as though ready to pupate, but it was dead, shriveled, and and clear strands hanging from it. There were two small, yellow maggots in the tank, as well as a red pupa. After a bit of searching, I found this site http://www.monarchlab.umn.edu /research/PNE/creasey.aspx . Apparently, an introduced tachinid fly, Lespesia archippivora, was brought over to control cutworms, but attacks non-target species like monarchs as well. Fortunately, the other caterpillar seems to have dodged the bullet, and has formed a lovely chrysalis. Regards,
Emily

Monarch Caterpillar Monarch Chrysalis

Hi Emily,
Thank you for your wonderful letter, excellent photos, precise documentation, and technical research. Though we approve of biological control methods over pesticides, we always question the introduction of biological agents before the total ramifications of the actions are made apparent.

Parasitized Monarch Caterpillar Tachinid Fly larvae and pupa

Posted 12 August 2007 § Tachinid Flies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Viceroy Caterpillar

Strange Caterpillar
Hello,
First of all I know you’ve heard this a million times but I love your website, it is more encompassing than any bug identification book. Anyway, I ran across this little caterpillar today and don’t know what it is, I would be thankful if you could identify it for me. I may keep it and see what it turns into if you can’t. Its about an inch long and was found on a wild willow tree near my pond. Thanks in advance.
Eric M.

Hi Eric,
Your caterpillar is most definitely in the genus Limenitis. It is a dead ringer for a Viceroy Caterpillar image on BugGuide. The Viceroy Butterfly is best known for being a mimic of the Monarch. In human society, that would be termed an imposter.

Posted 08 August 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °

American Lady Caterpillar

American Lady Caterpillar?
Hi,

I think I’ve identified this caterpillar from your site as an American Lady (post from S. Texas, May 2007). The description in my Peterson’s Eastern Butterflies seems to confirm it. They are feeding on licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare) in a window box outside our living room window in Kansas City. We’ve planted Helichrysum many times, but first time we’ve seen these caterpillars on them. Can you confirm the ID as an American Lady for me? Great site! Keep up the good work.
Brett

Hi Brett,
We concur that this is an American Lady Caterpillar, Vanessa virginiensis, and it exactly matches an image on BugGuide. Your high resolution, excellent quality photograph is a welcome addition to our site.

Posted 23 July 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Mourning Cloak Metamorphosis

Mourning Cloak Butterfly
Hi WTB,
I just wanted to share with you and all of us “bug-sleuths” my recent discovery. About a two months ago I began seeing thousands of little black turds on my back porch under my chinese elm tree. At first I was very concerned thinking that I may have an infested tree. I suspected the turds were non mammalian or avian due to the shape of the extrusion. They were not round, but slightly squared and short in length. My suspicions were proven correct when among the turds one morning were a dried up caterpillar, too emaciated to get a good identification. The identification came about a week later when the caterpillars in my tree were on the move. I spotted ten or so caterpillars that were spiny, charcoal grey with red markings that were slightly diamond shape along the back (see the picture).

They had apparently dropped from the tree and were making their way up the walls of my house in order to find a place to chrysalize. Once they found their chosen place, they attached themselves and spun a light grey chrysalis. One thing I noticed was that part of the caterpillar actually became discarded in the process. I could not tell if the head or the tail of the caterpillar lost out. Nonetheless, nature took its course, and one morning, I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph one of the butterflies just born, drying its wings in the sun. While it is not a strikingly colorful specimen, it is nonetheless a wonderful part of my backyard environment. Enjoy.
Bob K
Sunny San Diego, CA

Hi Bob,
What a wonderful account of Mourning Cloak metamorphosis. During each stage of metamorphosis, the individual loses its exoskeleton, hence the discarded chrysalis skin in the background of your butterfly image. Mourning Cloaks are native to California, and before the introduction of the Chinese Elm, a favorite host tree, they fed on riparian willows that grow near stream beds and rivers. This is a wide ranging species that is found throughout North America and Europe in the Northern hemisphere.

Posted 22 July 2007 § Brush Footed Butterflies ‡ Comments (0) °

Zebra Longwing Metamorphosis and Mating, and possibly early instar Caterpillar

Follow-up on Zebra Longwing caterpillar
I just love your site! :) Thanks again for letting me know that I had Zebra Longwing caterpillars on a passion vine. I had followed them through the stages and have attached additional pictures of the cacoon and adults on a cacoon.

Lastly. I have now found a SECOND different caterpillar on the same passion vine. It has the same spikes as the Zebra Longwing but it is differently colored. Do you know what this caterpillar is? Thanks.
Bill
Miami, FL

Wow Bill,
That is one impressive looking Chrysalis. We have never seen the Chrysalis or Pupa of a Zebra Longwing. It is very ornate. It appears that the Zebra Longwing adults are mating, and we suspect the caterpillar might be the coloration of an earlier instar. Caterpillars molt four times, once after each of the five instars or growth phase. On many species, each instar is a different color with different markings. After the fifth molt is the Chrysalis stage. Your metamorphosis series is a fabulous addition to our site.

Posted 29 June 2007 § Brush Footed Butterflies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Zebra Longwing Metamorphosis and Mating, and Julia Caterpillar

Follow-up on Zebra Longwing caterpillar
I just love your site! :) Thanks again for letting me know that I had Zebra Longwing caterpillars on a passion vine. I had followed them through the stages and have attached additional pictures of the cacoon and adults on a cacoon.

Lastly. I have now found a SECOND different caterpillar on the same passion vine. It has the same spikes as the Zebra Longwing but it is differently colored. Do you know what this caterpillar is? Thanks.
Bill
Miami, FL

Wow Bill,
That is one impressive looking Chrysalis. We have never seen the Chrysalis or Pupa of a Zebra Longwing. It is very ornate. It appears that the Zebra Longwing adults are mating, and we suspect the caterpillar might be the coloration of an earlier instar. Caterpillars molt four times, once after each of the five instars or growth phase. On many species, each instar is a different color with different markings. After the fifth molt is the Chrysalis stage. Your metamorphosis series is a fabulous addition to our site.

Correction: (08/14/2007) caterpillar id
hello there!
I have long looked through your site and never contacted you! I have been interested in bugs for some time since I was little, and now i’m 17 and going to Cornell U for entomology (which was my dream!)! I’ve worked at a butterfly vivarium for 5 years now, and I’m very much into rearing and raising moths and butterflies, especially the Saturniids!! I have a bunch of Actias selene (indian moon moth) eclosing at the moment, which I will gladly photograph and send in!! My email actually pertains to a picture I came across on your caterpillar page! it was on the caterpillars 10 link, and the date was 6/29/2007, of the zebra longwing chrysalis and butterflies. The caterpillar is not an early instar of the zebra; it’s a julia butterfly (Dryas iulia) caterpillar. The zebras remain white with black spots for their entire life, except when they are first and second instar babies, and look sort of yellowish! I hope you don’t mind my input!!
Jeff Petracca

Posted 29 June 2007 § Brush Footed Butterflies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Zebra Longwing Caterpillar

What’s this caterpillar?
Hi! I’m glad I found your website. I was out weeding and found several of these caterpillars on morning glory leaves in Miami, FL. I didn’t see any others on your website. What is it? Thanks,
Bill

Hi Bill,
We were just going through some older emails we did not have a chance to open earlier in the week and discovered your photo. We are thrilled to have received your image of a Zebra Longwing Caterpillar, Heliconius charitonius, but we wonder if you have mistaken its typical food plant, the Passion Vine, for a Morning Glory.

Posted 19 June 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °

American Lady Caterpillar

South Texas Caterpillars
Hi! Since you were so helpful the last time i found a great bug, here’s another for you: I found two of these little guys in my back yard under an oak tree. They were on plants close to the ground in close proximity to eachother. I put them in a “tank” i had for a betta fish with the plants they were on plus a few more to chow on. The plants were kept alive by pulling up the roots (easy to do in sandy soil) and placing them into a bulb vase with water. A wire/mesh screen was taped to the top of the “tank” to prevent escape. I found them on Wednesday and by Friday afternoon they were already starting to pupate. I am really excited to see what they turn into. I am in Magnolia, Texas (a bit north of Houston). Any chance you can tell me what kind of butterfly/moth to expect? Thanks!
Mary

Hi there Mary,
This is an American Lady Butterfly Caterpillar, Vanessa virginiensis, which we located on BugGuide. The Lady Butterflies, including the Painted Lady, are Brush-Footed Butterflies. The caterpillar feeds on Cudweeds and Everlastings.

Posted 04 May 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Swallowtailed Emperor Caterpillar from Australia

Polyura sempronius the swallowtailed Emperor
Hi Bugman,
Been through all your caterpillar pages and thought you might like this guy from Queensland, Australia. This is the Polyura sempronius, the swallowtailed Emperor. Caterpillar is about 2 inches long and apparently this is the fully mature stage. Hope you like it.
Trevor Jinks
Australia

Hi Trevor,
That is one amazing looking caterpillar. We did additional research and located a website that pictures the life cycle of this Brush Footed Butterfly. The caterpillar food plants include species of Acacia known at Wattles.

Posted 07 April 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Mourning Cloak Butterfly Caterpillar

These little guys…
Found these little guys climbing out of my Chinese elm tree, here in Southern California. I watched for over an hour as at least 15 climbed down, one by one. Can you tell me what kind they are, and what they feed on? Thanks.
Michelle

Hi Michelle,
This is a Mourning Cloak Butterfly Caterpillar. They were feeding on the leaves of your Chinese Elm and they left the tree to find a good place to pupate. Mourning Cloaks are lovely purplish black butterflies with cream colored wing edges and blue spots.

Wow! Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my e-mail. Our entire evening had been centered around these caterpillars. My children and I carefully collected them as they came out of the tree thinking we would watch then release them as butterflies. Since I wasn’t sure what they fed on and didn’t want them to starve, I placed them back at the base of the tree. I tried looking online several times to identify, but had no luck. I even woke in the middle of the night thinking of them….funny. Anyway, it was SO NICE to find your e-mail with the answer, and the kids (2 & 4) were amazed with the pictures and facts I was able to then find on the internet. Thank you for helping keep our interest “peaked”. All that right in our own back yard! So cool. Take care.

Posted 18 March 2007 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Spider Wasp and Gulf Fritillary

bug trade
Hey Bug man! Love your site, and usually find the name of the bug just by browsing. But I’m stumped on this iridescent blue bug, maybe he’s a wasp? Want to make sure he’s not going to eat my catterpillars, who are happily munching my passion vine (why don’t they eat the flowers?).

In exchange, I have attached some cool pix of the catterpillar who just today started to build its ‘coccoon’, you can see it down at the base…and the fritillaries(I think), who come out. I have roughly twenty cases in varied stages on my house and fence, and roughly 50 or more catterpillars still munching. They seem to love the passion plant for food, and once changed, they enjoy a rose of sharon, crepe myrtle and lantana, also they have been feeding at the hummingbird feeder, and some at the pasion flowers. It has been a warm dry summer, so maybe that’s the reason for the explosion of critters – I didn’t have this many all last year! Here are the photos. I am going to try and photo the one that’s ‘pupating’(?) now as it stages, and can share the other stages with you if you like!
PS – I had visited your site before when I lived in Florida. Just wanted to let you know that you were highly recommended by the local AG office here in Perry, Georgia!
Kaye Fiorello
Perry, GA

Hi Kaye,
What a sweet complimentary letter. Sadly, we don’t recognize your wasp species, but we have high expectations that Eric Eaton will correctly identify it. Eric informed us it is a Spider Wasp. The Gulf Fritillary images are awesome. We don’t know why the caterpillars don’t eat the flowers.

Posted 19 September 2006 § Brush Footed Butterflies § spider wasps ‡ Comments (0) °

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar and Chrysalis

Trying to Identify Caterpillar found in my Ficus Hedge
Found these critters all over my ficus hedge in South Florida. The best description I can think of is that they look almost like rubber bugs. The skin is a shiny orange/brown color and the spiny things (sorry I do not know the technical term) are like thick individual strands of stubbly shiny black hair. They are pure entertainment for my 2 year old daughter. During a recent Tropical Storm I decided to try and save the little guys and bring them inside. To our delight we woke up the next day to see several of them have begun the next stage of their metamorphosis and have created bark-like cocoons suspended upside down from a branch of ficus. Can you help me identify what they are, and also is it best that I leave the cocoons inside until they hatch or should I now return them to the hedge. I do not want to disturb them any more than I already have. Please let me know. Also, what plants can I put in our garden to keep the butterflies around once the hatch?
Jodie Espendez
Pembroke Pines, Florida

Hi Jodie,
This looks like the caterpillar and chrysalis of the Gulf Fritillary, a pretty orange butterfly. The host plant is always listed as passion flower with on alternate. We can only guess that they were so hungry, the ficus seemed appealing, or, more likely, there is some passion vine growing in your ficus hedge. If you want Gulf Fritillaries, plant passiflora. In our yard, the butterflies also take nectar from lantana and cosmos.

Posted 31 August 2006 § ‡ Comments (0) °

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