Munching the parsley
Location:  Vermont
June 25, 2011
Hi again,
Busy week with critters! I just found these guys on a parsley plant. Any clue what they are?
KT

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Hi again KT,
This striking caterpillar is a Black Swallowtail and it also goes by the common name Parsley Worm.  BugGuide notes that the caterpillars are sometimes called Carrot Worms, Dill Worms, Celery Worms and Fennel Worms because they will feed on the leaves of many plants in the carrot family.  They will also feed on Queen Anne’s Lace.  We had a bit of trouble formatting this posting because you bypassed our normal submission form.  While we do not discriminate against emails that we receive that are not on our standard form, occasionally crucial information is omitted.  In the case of this posting, we had to research your previous submissions to provide the proper location for this sighting.  Please use our standard submission form by clicking Ask WTB when you are submitting photos in the future to ensure that our posting process will be more streamlined and efficient.

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Black and yellow caterpillar
Location: Ocean County NJ ( south NJ )
June 20, 2011 5:45 pm
Hi Bugman,My daughter found this caterpillar in the green houses where she work at moore’s farm market in Beachwood NJ. Do you know what that is, maybe a swallowtail butterfly? Thanks for your time & knowledge
Signature: Jacqui Moich & family

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Hi Jacqui,
You are correct.  This is a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar.  You can feed it parsley or even the tops of carrots from the grocery store.

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caterpiller
Location: augusta, Ga
May 5, 2011 7:04 am
came out the house this morning and at first thought it a bird had poo on my orange tree till i moved the leaf and it stuch its 1 in long tongues at me not sure if they were forked did see where they came together.
Signature: kristina

blurry photo of an Orange Dog

we wish your photos were in focus.  The Orange Dog is the caterpillar of the beautiful Giant Swallowtail butterfly.

i took more this morning of it this morning.

Ed. Note: Reshoot
As instructors of photography, it is imperative that we instruct our students how to properly focus their images.  Unless soft focus is used creatively and consciously, students who create blurry images cannot receive an excellent grade on their assignments, and we generally recommend a reshoot.  We were very impressed that Kristina made the effort to reshoot her images of an Orange Dog, prompting us to post both the original and the subsequent images.  When it comes to educating photographers, we reward attempts to make better images even if the reshoot is not entirely successful by adding a few points, but nothing is more rewarding than seeing a major improvement when a student reshoots an assignment.  With that in mind, we are now posting Kristina’s efforts as well as elaborating on our original very short response to her.

Orange Dog

Hello again Kristina,
These new images are a vast improvement over your original attempts, and we applaud the initiative you took.  Your new and critically sharp images show a “content” Orange Dog as well as the very effective defense mechanism utilized when that Orange Dog is threatened.  The red forked organ is known as an Osmetrium and when the disturbed, the Orange Dog, like its many closely related Swallowtail Caterpillar relatives, obtrudes the Osmetrium which in turn emits a foul odor.  The Osmetrium is a defense organ and the foul odor that is released is believed to ward off birds and other predators that would otherwise find the caterpillar to be a tasty morsel.  The red or orange color of the Osmetrium is most likely also a visual deterrent.

Orange Dog Obtrudes Osmetrium

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