Unknown Caterpillar
Location: Southeast Arizona desert scrub at 3500 feet elevation. N32 deg, 18.3min; W110 deg, 21.5 min
September 13, 2010 10:15 pm
Please identify this caterpillar.
Signature: Bob Evans
Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars
Hi Bob,
These are the caterpillars of the lovely Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor, which you can verify on BugGuide which indicates: “Larvae feed on Aristolochia species. These include “Pipevine” or “Dutchman’s Pipe”, Aristolochia species (tomentosa, durior, reticulata, californica), as well as Virginia Snakeroot, Aristolochia serpentaria. Larvae presumably take up toxic secondary compounds (including Aristolochic acid) from their hostplant. Both larvae and adults are believed toxic to vertebrate predators, and both have aposematic (warning) coloration.“ We don’t normally think of them as a desert species, so your letter is quite welcome.
Please help!
Location: Southeastern Ohio
August 14, 2010 4:46 pm
My husband found this critter on our cucumber plant. We live in Amanda Ohio (southeaster Ohio). Please help identify this bug.
Amy
Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar
Hi Amy,
This is a most unusual sighting, not because of what your found, but because of where you found it. Whenever a caterpillar if found, identification is easier if the plant upon which the caterpillar is found is identified because often the food plant is very limited. This is a Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar, Papilio troilus. According to BugGuide, the Caterpillar of the Spicebush Swallowtail feeds on: “Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), Sassafras trees (Sassafras albidum), Pondspice (Litsea aestivalis) Red, Swamp and Silk Bays (Persea spp.); perhaps prickly ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), and Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora).“ Are any of these plants growing near your cucumber plant? We suspect this caterpillar is ready to metamorphose into a chrysalis. At that time, many caterpillars leave the host plant to search for a suitable location in which to transform to the sedentary phase of their life while preparing to become a winged butterfly or moth. We suspect today you may find a very different looking critter.
Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar
this was supposed to be a black swallowtail butterfly
Location: southwest ohio
August 11, 2010 4:19 pm
i found a black swallowtail caterpillar,
Black Swallowtail Caterpillar: Beginning Metamorphosis
(found that on your site) in my front yard. a few days later it put itself in a cacoon or chrysalis. yesterday i noticed something flying in the container but it was way to small to be my butterfly. WHAT IS THIS??????????
BIBEF
Black Swallowtail Chrysalis
Dear BIBEF,
By all outward appearances, your Black Swallowtail had begun its metamorphosis into a chrysalis and things should have culminated in the emergence of a butterfly, but while it was still a caterpillar, your individual was parasitized by a type of wasp known as an Ichneumon. We quickly identified the adult Ichneumon that you photographed as Trogus pennator, which BugGuide indicates “is a parasitoid of swallowtail butterflies (Papilionidae), ovipositing in the caterpillars.“ The female Ichneumon lays a solitary egg inside the caterpillar using her stingerlike ovipositor. BugGuide has a nice series of images documenting this process. The Ichneumon Larva develops inside the the caterpillar, feeding upon its internal organs and allowing it to pupate into a chrysalis. At some point hidden from view, the Ichneumon Larva undergoes its own metamorphosis into a pupa, eventually emerging as an adult wasp and chewing its way out of the chrysalis through an irregular hole. The adult butterfly will not emerge once it has been parasitized. BugGuide also has a photo that illustrates that action. Back in the seventeenth century in Germany, artist and naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian became one of the first people to notice and document insect metamorphosis at a time when the accepted theory was spontaneous generation. Maria Sibylla Merian observed that caterpillars formed pupae and emerged as moths and butterflies as part of a natural process of metamorphosis, but she was puzzled that some caterpillars did not metamorphose in a typical manner, emerging instead as flies or wasps. She documented this puzzle in her intricate drawings which were published in a two volume book known as Caterpillars, Their Wondrous Transformation and Peculiar Nourishment from Flowers or simply The Caterpillar Book. You should be able to see the hole in the chrysalis. As a point of clarification, butterflies do not form a cocoon as their pupae are bare. A cocoon is usually spun of silk to cover a naked pupa. Most moths form a cocoon to protect the pupa.
Ichneumon: Trogus pennator
2
Anise Swallowtail
Location: Cotati, CA
July 28, 2010 7:04 pm
I raised Anise Swallowtail butterflies locally for 15 years and have always had an amazing time watching them transform. I caught one of them in the middle of cocooning. Thought it would be nice to share! He later hatched into a beautiful butterfly!
Lauren
Anise Swallowtail Chrysalis with larval exuvia still attached
Hi Lauren,
Your photographs are stunning. We especially like that your Anise Swallowtail Chrysalis photo has captured the molting process and the exoskeleton of the caterpillar is still visible.
Anise Swallowtail
Florida Caterpiller
Location: DeLand, Forida
July 24, 2010 11:30 am
Hi,
Can you tell what kind of caterpiller this is? It was found in DeLand, Florida on a Pole Bean plant in my garden on July 24, 2010.
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely, Maria
Long Tailed Skipper Caterpillar
Hi Maria,
This is a Skipper Caterpillar in the family Hesperiidae. Skippers are butterflies, but they are often described as being a transitional family between butterflies and moths. Many Skipper Caterpillars look similar, as you can see on BugGuide. We believe it may be a Long-Tailed Skipper, Urbanus proteus, and we found a nice website called Mike’s Page that details how to raise a Long-Tailed Skipper Caterpillar by feeding it leaves from beans.
Update
Long-tailed Skipper caterpillar sex – male or female
July 24, 2010 1:37 pm
The two orange dots just a little over half way down the back of the Long-tailed Skipper caterpillar indicate that its a male. With a few species you can tell if the larger caterpillars are male or female by these dots. Brazilian Skipper’s dots are white.
I recently became a fan of whatsthatbug on facebook and am thoroughly enjoying your posts.
Thanks bunches,
Edith Smith
Hi Edith,
Thanks for this wonderful tip. It is a new one for us as we didn’t think there was an easy way, other than genetic testing, to determine a male from a female caterpillar of any species. We also appreciate your compliments.
Mystery caterpillar
July 6, 2010
Hello!
This caterpillar has been nibbling my parsley. That’s actually a good thing because I planted it in hopes of attracting Black Swallowtail Larvae. The question is, is that what I have here? I have not found a photo that’s exactly like this guy. The blue doesn’t seem correct for a Black Swallowtail. What do you think?
Flatpickr
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Black Swallowtail Caterpillar
Dear Flatpickr,
Congratulations. Your efforts to plant parsley to attract Black Swallowtail Caterpillars has been successful. Your caterpillar is in fact a Black Swallowtail.
3
Caterpillar with “eyes.”
June 27, 2010
From what I’ve found on your site, I think this caterpillar may be related to the Tersa Sphinx Moth. However, the one that I found didn’t have a horn. Is it a different species in the same family? It was found crawling on a wall in Shreveport, Louisiana on May 28th, 2010.
Michael M.
Shreveport, LA
Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar
Hi Michael,
There are many caterpillars that have protective coloration that includes eyespots. This is not a Sphinx Caterpillar, but rather a Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar, most likely the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail which is pictured on BugGuide.
3
rss
I like This
