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Pink Caterpillar
July 18, 2009
This tiny pink caterpillar moved in inchworm fashion and was particularly interested in the pollen/nectar of my Coreopsis flower. About 3/8″ in length, really tiny.
sankax
Minneapolis, MN
Unknown Pink Inchworm
Dear sankax,
While we cannot tell you the species, this Inchworm or Spanworm is the caterpillar of a moth in the family Geometridae.
aussietrev wasp foodchain pic
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 7:08 PM
Hi guys,
Walking along and this wasp came buzzing out from a small shrub and landed on a grass stem to finish off this caterpillar, which I think is one of the Geometridae. Taken in the Capricornia region of Queensland.
aussietrev
Qld, Australia
Paper Wasp captures Caterpillar
Hi Trevor,
We believe this is one of the social Paper Wasps, possibly Polistes tepidus, and we also believe it has captured the caterpillar to feed to larval wasps back at the nest. The Brisbane Insect Page has photo documentation of a Polistes Paper Wasp skinning and “packaging” a large caterpillar into manageable portions for travel. It states: “The wasp cut a large piece from the caterpillar and carefully pack it into ball shape for easy carrying. Then she started to fly back home to feed their larvae. We noticed that the wasp circle around over the caterpillar body a few time before she disappear. We believed she did that to recognize the location so that she could come back after deliver the meal.” Perhaps one of our readers can substantiate this.
filament bearer caterpillar
Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 9:22 AM
Hi Buggies,
I love your website. I searched for this species of caterpillar, but couldn’t find it on your site–thought you might like to see this filament bearer, Nemocampa resistaria (according to my Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner, a book no Eastern North American bug lover should be without). I took this photo in my back yard in northwestern New Jersey in early June of 2008. When I saw the caterpillar inching across the picnic table, my first thought was, “There’s no breeze; why is that twig moving?” It does look just like a piece of Virginia Creeper vine, or the wild grape vines that also grow around here.
Enjoy!
Jeannie
Newton, New Jersey
Horned Spanworm
Hi Jeannie,
BugGuide also refers to this interesting inchworm species as the Horned Spanworm. Your wonderful photo with its dramatic shadow is a perfect Halloween image.
Need ID on this caterpillar
Found this caterpillar on my sages and coyote mints eats leafs and builds nest at base of plants. About 1/2″ long. Located in Southern California
Second picture is another caterpillar I found in my backyard
Dennis
Brea California
Inchworm
Hi Dennis,
One of the caterpillars is and Inchworm or Spanworm in the family Geometridae. We are not sure of the exact species as there are numerous similar looking caterpillars posted to BugGuide. We have a similar looking caterpillar that defoliates the new growth on our Matilija Poppy each spring.
15 Pages of Caterpillars… No Luck
Hey Bugman,
I searched your 15 pages of caterpillars frontwards, backwards and sideways trying to figure out who I captured on camera a couple of years ago in Peachtree, Georgia. Maybe this is something common that’s just in a different instar than a pic you have posted? Whatever the case, I thought you might be interested.
Jim Olsson
Cheboygan, MI
Inchworm camouflaged with bits of plants
Hi Jim,
We actually do have several images of Inchworms, the caterpillars of the Geometrid Moths, that have camouflaged themselves with plant material. BugGuide has specimens from the genus Synchlora that exhibit this unusual behavior. The appearance of the plant parts on your specimen is resulting in the appearance. Other than the choice of plant material, there is one image on BugGuide that looks very much like your caterpillar. Inchworms are also called Spanworms.
Unknown caterpillar – Flagstaff, AZ, U.S.A.
Hello,
I am hopeful that you’ll be able to help me with the caterpillar in the attached photos. These were taken on April 26, 2008 in my yard in Flagstaff, AZ, U.S. Flagstaff is in the mountains of Arizona at an elevation of about 7000 feet (a bit over 2130 meters – I think). After perusing your letters on caterpillars (I am amazed at your knowledge), I am wondering if it is an early instar of a Parnassian species? However, my “Butterflies of Arizona” does not list any Parnassians. And, while the National Audubon “Field Guide to North American Butterflies” does list a few, the descriptions of the caterpillars don’t seem to match. This particular caterpillar appears to be white with black, longitudinal stripes, and yellow spots along the sides. It was on a Penstemon, which is listed (in the Audubon book) as a host plant for the Arachne Checkerspot, but the caterpillar description doesn’t seem to match up. I’m at a bit of a loss … Thank you for a wonderful site, and thank you in advance for any assistance.
John Ellison,
Flagstaff, AZ, U.S.A
Hi John,
We have to come clean and say we just don’t know for sure. Based on the absence of most typical pairs of prolegs, we believe this is a Spanworm or Inchworm in the family Geometridae, but we cannot locate a good match on BugGuide.
Happy new year. 2 queries please, the spider had immobilised the bee, is that its tongue sticking out and what do bees use such a large tongue for? The caterpillar is on a flowering gum in my garden in Queensland and i wondered if you could identify it for me. Thanking you,
dawn lewis
Hi Dawn,
Bees have long tongues to lap up nectar from plants. Your caterpillar seems to be some species of Inch Worm or Spanworm in the family Geometridae. We found an awesome webpage of Australian Geometridae, but had no luck identifying your caterpillar exactly. Caterpillars in this family are also known as Loopers, Measuring Worms and Twig Caterpillars.
Update: (01/04/2008) Unknown owlet moth from Australia
Dear Daniel,
Going on my own observations, it looks very much like the caterpillar of the Hakea or Pink-bellied Moth, Oenochroma vinaria, posted on WTB on 11/11/07. The caterpillar has small white dots over its body and also some yellow larger dots along the back. There are two “horns” just behind the head. When disturbed, the caterpillar rears up, showing its horns more clearly. When at rest, it is well camouflaged, looking just like a brown stick. And a Happy New Year to you and all WTB readers, also.
Grev
beautiful fern-like inchworm found in Tennessee
Hello whatsthatbug! Thought i’d add to the bizarre inchworm pictures with these snapshots of a strange brown fern frond i saw waving in the breeze-less air of Franklin, Tennessee this September. Upon closer inspection, it was of course this lovely creature. I’ve attempted to look up caterpillars of tennessee, but haven’t found this guy. Any help, or a point in the right research direction would be appreciated! thank you for the lovely site!
JD
Hi JD,
We quickly identified this inchworm as a Showy Emerald, Dichorda iridaria by using BugGuide.
Inchworm/Oak Besma? Butterfly?
Hello again What’s That Bug.
I noticed on the Caterpiller page you have the Inchworm/Oak Besma identification, but the picture is hard to see. I’d like to contribute my own. Again, these are found in my backyard in central Indiana. I have also included a picture of a butterfly I found at the Gatlinburg Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Aquarium in Tennessee. I searched the site, but I’m unsure as the type of butterfly it is. Can you help?
Thanks!
Heather Burdette
Hi Heather,
Your unidentified butterfly is a Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, but a black morph. According to BugGuide: “A dark phase occurs in females through much of range, esepcially in southern states. The stripes are still faintly visible from some angles. The black females may be distinguished from other swallowtails from below, by the absence of the band of orange spots on the hind wing seen on Black and Spicebush Swallowtails, and lack of iridescent blue of Pipevine Swallowtails. ” We are not entirely sure your Inchworm is an Oak Besma. It appears to be feeding on a maple leaf and there are other Geometrid Caterpillars that look very similar. Bugguide lists the food plants as: “Oak, elm, poplar, willows, and white spruce.” So our verdict is maybe yes and maybe no.
Big Ugly Worm
Hi. We have been enjoying your site very much since we discovered it a few days ago. Now we have found a weird ugly bug we would like to have identified. We live in northeastern PA. Our area is heavily woodedbut we are not near water. This THING was seen “inching” along on the concrete pad by my pigeon lofts. It moves by bending itself up into a bow shape, then reaching out with the front. It’s like an inchworm, only much bigger and uglier. It has 4 caterpiller-like feet (my son says they are pseudopods) on the back end, and about 8 claw-like feet on the front. It SCARED us! What is it?
Thank you,
Sue and David
Hi Sue and David,
You can stop being scared of your Spanworm or Inchworm, one of the Geometrid Caterpillars. They are very difficult to positively identify. Our best guess is the Oak Besma, Besma quercivoraria, which eats a wide variety of forest trees besides oaks including conifers. There are conspicuous wartlike swellings that help it to mimic a twig that has had the leaves drop off, especially when the caterpillar rests by streching straight out at an oblique angle. Here is a page full of Geometrid Caterpillars from the Caterpillars of Eastern Forests website.
camouflaged caterpiller
Hi,
This caterpillar was photographed in Atlanta, Georgia on Oct 8, 2004.
Several of these were on a blue mist flower. Their movement was very slow.
The length was less than 1/2 inch. They appeared to be eating the flower or
maybe just biting parts off to put on their bodies. I noticed their
movements while photographing bees and got a few shots of them.. I don’t
know what they are and haven’t been able to find any information on them in
field books or on the web.
I just found your website today and spent quite a while looking at all the
stuff. It’s one of the best bug sites I’ve seen.
Bill DuPree
Atlanta, Georgia
Thanks for the compliment Bill.
We were unsure as to an exact identification, so we turned to entomologist Eric Eaton who wrote back:
“Nice image! Wow! Yes, I have heard of this creature, it is an inchworm of some kind, family Geometridae. If I can dig up more information somewhere, then I will go ahead and send it along.”
Thanks Daniel,
I really apprecite your help. I sort of thought it might be an inchworm. Sometime when you’re not busy, check out my insect photo gallery on pbase. It’s insects and spiders mostly unidentified, especially the flies. Congrats on the Yahoo and the USA recognition!
Bill DuPree
Ed. Note: Several days later Bill wrote back:
Hope you remember the camouflaged inchworm photo. I may have an identification on it: wavy lined emerald moth (Synchlora aerata). Does that seem correct? Thanks,
Bill
Hi again Bill,
We did some web research with your new information and found a link with a photograph that looks like you are probably right. Thanks for the update.
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for the link. It does look similar. I just got a book by Thomas Eisner, “For Love of Insects”. The camo behavior is covered in chapter 8 and photos of Synchlora larva are shown both bare and in full dress. Evidently, several species of Synchlora larva camouflage themselves. I did a search for Synchlora to see how many species occurred in Georgia. I found at least 3 (there’s probably more), with the most common one being the wavy lined emerald moth. Most of the bugs I see are the common ones, so I’m guessing this one is too.
Boy, this bug ID business can get hard!
Bill
I found this inchworm on my clematis flower. It is red in color. I can’t seem to find a “red” inchworm on the internet. Someone told me it is an inchworm because it has legs in the front and legs in the back, not in the middle, and it moves by moving its center up … like an inchworm. But is red or maybe dark pink in color. I have a picture but it is blurry. The first pic is on the flower. The second pic I took it off and put it on a napkin. It is very tiny so hard to take a pic with my camera.
Thanks,
Claire
Hi Claire,
Inchworms are the caterpillars of Geometrid Moths. Sorry, I don’t know of a pink or red caterpillar, but there is often little information on caterpillars. I will continue to check and possibly get back to you.
