Swallowtail Caterpillars | What's That Bug?

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Pre-Pupal Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

bald looking caterpillar
Location: western maryland
August 10, 2011 7:57 pm
What is this strange creature?
Signature: curious

Pre-Pupal Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

Dear Curious,
This is a Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar, and its dark purple coloration indicates that it is pre-pupal and about to begin metamorphosis into the chrysalis stage. When a typically green Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar nears the end of its stage as a caterpillar, it loses interest in feeding upon the leaves of its host tree, including, according to BugGuide, black cherry, tuliptree, sweet bay and swamp bay, and it begins searching for a suitable location for pupation, often leaving the tree. At this time, the green coloration often changes to orange or dark purple, like the color of your individual. Here is a matching photo from BugGuidefor confirmation.

Pre-Pupal Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

¶ Posted 11 August 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Pre-Pupal Black Swallowtail Caterpillar and Butterfly Garden

Interesting moths and butterflies?
Location: Windsor, ON, Canada
August 2, 2011 12:10 pm
This doesn’t seem like a question you would normally get, but I am quite interested in Lepidoptera and I am wondering what are some easy ways to attract interesting and beautiful species?
I am currently raising a Black swallowtail caterpillar, which is about to pupate, that I found on my parsley,in my garden.
Next year, I am going to plant a strawberry plant, and I know it will attract many moths, including the Emperor moth. Anyway, are there any nice species that I can attract easily with a host plant? Preferably not a tree. A shrub, plant, flower ..etc will work.
Signature: Sincerely, Dante

Pre-Pupal Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Hi Dante,
Thank you for submitting your lovely photo of a Pre-Pupal Black Swallowtail Caterpillar. There is nothing unusual about your request. It would be really helpful to know what species you are trying to attract, and also if you are wanting to provide just nectar for the butterflies, or host plants for caterpillars. Butterfly Bush, Buddleia species, are famous for attracting butterflies. As a youngster growing up in Ohio, Daniel used to give his mother a bit of grief for damaging her tall perennial Phlox flowers in an attempt to catch butterflies. The Phlox would attract numerous species of nectaring butterflies, including Tiger Swallowtails, Black Swallowtails, Spicebush Swallowtails and Pipevine Swallowtails as well as Fritillaries, Monarchs and diurnal Sphinx Moths. Zinnias are another excellent flower to attract nectaring butterflies, but they are annuals that need to be planted each year. Coneflowers and Monarda are also good choices for perennials. You can always add native milkweed to your garden to provide the host plant for Monarch Caterpillars and the blossoms attract numerous butterflies. Good luck.

Thank you for replying, I want to provide host plants for caterpillars, preferably simple plants, not trees.
I was thinking about planting strawberries to attract Small emperor moths , but I am not sure if they live in Detroit, MI. Are there any silk moths, sphinx/hawk moths or butterflies that I can attract easily with a host plant?
Sincerely, Dante

Hi again Dante,
We are not certain where you heard about strawberries, but we have our doubts. Regarding Giant Silkmoths, they do not feed as adults. Lights will attract them, but you need host trees and you are not interested in planting trees. Hawkmoths can be attracted by flowers with nectar, like bee balm, honeysuckle and nicotiana. Tomato plants will attract species that feed on tomato leaves. Good Luck.

Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

Location: Southern Lancaster County, PA
July 28, 2011 10:22 pm
We took this photo on a camping trip in the river hills of southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania In mid July this year. We were close to a tree line and it was walking on the ground. It was so strange. I never saw a bug like this before… I was wondering if you can identify it??
Signature: Robert

Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

Hi Robert,
This is the caterpillar of a Tiger Swallowtail, and its orange osmetrium, a scent organ, is just beginning to emerge.

¶ Posted 29 July 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

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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¶ Posted 25 June 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

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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¶ Posted 20 June 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Orange Dog reveals Osmetrium

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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¶ Posted 06 May 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Another caterpillar!
Location: Jacksonville Fl
May 2, 2011 2:47 pm
Hello Bugman!
This one was cleverly concealed in some weeds. I was wondering if you could identify it for me. I’m rather curious as to what it will become.
As always, thank you for your continues efforts!
Signature: Danno

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Dear Danno,
In an effort to respond to more emails and make more postings of all the wonderful images we are receiving, our answers are getting shorter. This is a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar.

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¶ Posted 02 May 2011 § ‡ Comments (3) °

Ruby Spotted Swallowtail Caterpillars and Imago in Costa Rica

Caterpillars from Costa Rica
Location: about 30 km north of San Ramon at a rural area with an elevation of 700m
March 28, 2011 8:24 pm
These guys were growing on a citrus tree leaf (pic 1). They changed their appearance quit dramatically after a few days (pic 2), and then left the leaf and disappeared.
Thanks
Signature: Hagit

Ruby Spotted Swallowtail Caterpillars

Dear Hagit,
We don’t recognize your caterpillars and we plan to try to begin researching this tomorrow. We are contacting Keith Wolfe to see if he recognizes this species. Thanks for sending two different instar photos. We believe they are Brush Footed Butterfly Caterpillars in the family Nymphalidae.

Later Instar of Ruby Spotted Swallowtail Caterpillars

Hi Hagit and Daniel,
As earlier from Mexico . . .
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2010/11/08/unknown-caterpillar-aggregation-from-mexico/
. . . these Costa Rican caterpillars are Papilio anchisiades (or a very close relative). This abundant and widespread swallowtail is commonly found in areas disturbed by human activities.
Best wishes,
Keith

Thank you Keith,
These butterflies are indeed abundant and widespread where I shot the pictures. A place which is sadly very much disturbed by human activities.