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Imperial Moth Caterpillar

Large Caterpillar
Location: Warren County, New Jersey
September 11, 2011 12:03 pm
On September 11, 2011, after many inches of rain, we saw this rather large caterpillar crossing the street near our house in Warren County, New Jersey. It was 3.25 inches long and about 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide. I’ve never seen anything this large but I’m wondering if you could identify it for us? What will it turn into?
Signature: Curious in NJ

imperial cat nj 300x246 Imperial Moth Caterpillar

Imperial Moth Caterpillar

Dear Curious in NJ,
This Imperial Moth Caterpillar will bury itself to pupate and it will emerge as an adult Imperial Moth next year.

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Posted 11 September 2011 § Silkworms ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Beautiful little furball caterpillar, but what is it?
Location: Campbellton, N.B. Canada
September 9, 2011 4:01 pm
Admittedly I am scared of many insects but yet at the same time strangely compelled by their beauty. But I love this website and your dedication is amazing. This guy was found in northern New Brunswick, Canada the beginning of September. He almost looks like a bumble bee but we were curious what he is & what he might turn out to be. Here’s hoping you can help us out because I didn’t see anything on the first half of the pages. There’s also another one of something I saw hopping along the ground on what looked like a tail, he has a body that looks like a skinny slug,and he was found in Halifax, NS, Canada. First time seeing something like that, so got curious about that too.
Signature: Fraidy cat bug admirer

spotted tussock cat canada 300x206 Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Dear Fraidy cat bug admirer,
This Tiger Moth Caterpillar is known as the Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar, Lophocampa maculata, and it is found in many parts of North America.  According to BugGuide, the Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar feed on the :  “ leaves of poplar and willow, but also feed on alder, basswood, birch, maple, oak.”  Your other insect is a harmless Crane Fly.

Posted 10 September 2011 § Tussock Moth Caterpillars § Woolly Bears ‡ Comments (0) °

Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar?
Location: southern indiana
September 9, 2011 9:55 pm
I found this little guy today on the side of my house and have never saw anything like it. Is this a Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar
Signature: Brian

milkweed tussock cat brian 300x139 Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Hi Brian,
Your identification of the Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar or Milkweed Tiger Moth Caterpillar, Euchaetes egle, is absolutely correct.

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Posted 10 September 2011 § Tussock Moth Caterpillars § Woolly Bears ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Pandora Sphinx

Beautiful caterpillar
Location: Peterborough, Ontario
September 6, 2011 11:20 pm
Found this lovely little critter under some leaves in the Peterborough, Ontario area early September. I don’t think I’ve seen one of these before and am wondering who it is?
Signature: Gerry

pandora sphinx cat grapes gerry 300x206 Pandora Sphinx

Pandora Sphinx

Hi Gerry,
Eumorpha pandorus, the caterpillar of the Pandora Sphinx, feeds upon the leaves of grapes as your photo indicates.

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Posted 07 September 2011 § Hornworms ‡ Comments (0) °

Prominent Moth Caterpillar

i found this crazy caterpillar
Location: Denton, NC
September 5, 2011 10:52 am
Hello.. while sitting outside this crazy thing came strolling by and I just had to know what it was!! Can you help?
Signature: Amanda Presker

heterocampa cat amanda 300x185 Prominent Moth Caterpillar

White Blotched Heterocampa Caterpillar

Hi Amanda,
This Prominent Moth Caterpillar in the genus Heterocampa is most likely the White Blotched Heterocampa, Heterocampa umbrata.  You can see many examples on BugGuide of similarly colored purple individuals.  This species, like many caterpillars, changes color right before pupation, and the green camouflage coloration is replaced by this stunning purple and magenta coloration.

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Posted 05 September 2011 § Prominent Moth Caterpillars ‡ Comments (0) °

Cross Striped Cabbageworms eat Collard Greens

beautiful caterpillars destroying my collards
Location: Washington, DC
September 4, 2011 5:38 pm
I love your site! I found these beauties chowing down on my collard plants in early September in Washington, DC, and I have yet to identify them. They’re about an inch long and didn’t appear hairy until I expanded the photos. They have a black and white pattern on top, bordered by yellow which then turns to green on the bottom. Reddish-brown head. Maybe a type of skipper?
Signature: Rachel

cross striped cabbageworm rachel 300x206 Cross Striped Cabbageworms eat Collard Greens

Cross Striped Cabbageworms

Hi Rachel,
We have been trying all manner of web searching options to try to identify your caterpillars, which looked vaguely familiar to us, but we could not recall their identity.  Finally an image search of “collard eating caterpillar” turned up (numerous pages into the search) an image that matched your photo.  It is on the BellaOnLine forum under “What is Eating my Brussels Sprouts?”, and it was identified as the Cross Striped Cabbageworm, Evergestis rimosalis, by Lisa Shea.  We double checked that on BugGuide and learned that the identification was correct and we have now created a new caterpillar sub-sub-category of Snout Moth Caterpillars to house this posting.  Since this caterpillar looked familiar to us, we suspect we may have an unidentified posting somewhere in our archive.

Wow – thanks so much! It’s interesting that such a beautiful caterpiller grows up to be a rather plain moth.

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Posted 05 September 2011 § Snout Moth Caterpillars ‡ Comments (0) °

Two Achemon Sphinx Caterpillars and a Zephyr Eyed Silkmoth Caterpillar

caterpillar ID
Location: Jemez Springs NM; Near Los Alamos New Mexico
September 3, 2011 5:53 pm
Hey, we found three caterpillars we haven’t seen before. 2 we found on our homeschool fieldtrip to the Jemez mountains NM, right by the hotsprings near Jemez Springs, 36 Miles west of Los Alamos. The green one is 3+ inches long and about 1/2 inch wide. It’s green with a ”spraypaintish looking”, reddish spot on top from head to tail.It has one yellow and black ”eye” on the rear end. White parallel streaks on the side.
We call the other one a ”snowflake caterpillar” because it’s spiky hair has a delicate snowflake like top. The two spikes in the front are a little bit higher then the rest. My kids say it stings.
The orange one is from our own frontyard in Taos NM. We never saw one like it before. It has a ”stinger” in the front, and two painted on eyes. It has white slashes on the side.
What are they???
Jenny, River (9), and Jordan (4)
ShineOnBeyond – homeschool
Signature: ShineOnBeyond Homeschool

achemon cat jenny 300x169 Two Achemon Sphinx Caterpillars and a Zephyr Eyed Silkmoth Caterpillar

Pre-pupal Achemon Sphinx Caterpillar

Dear Jenny, River, Jordan and the rest of the ShineOnBeyond Homeschool students,
Two of your caterpillars are the same species.   The green caterpillar is a pre-pupal Achemon Sphinx Caterpillar.  See this image on BugGuide for comparison.  There are several different color variations on this species, and the pink blush at the top of the green caterpillar is, we believe, an indication that the caterpillar is preparing to pupate.  Many species change color just prior to pupation.  The orange caterpillar is an earlier instar or stage of the same species, the Achemon Sphinx.  See this image on BugGuide for comparison.  When the caterpillar molts between the fourth and fifth or final instar, the caudal horn is lost, leaving a caudal bump that resembles an eye.

achemon cat jenny 2 300x188 Two Achemon Sphinx Caterpillars and a Zephyr Eyed Silkmoth Caterpillar

Achemon Sphinx Caterpillar (third or fourth instar)

The remaining caterpillar is one of the Giant Silkmoths in the genus Automeris, and we believe it is the Zephyr Eyed Silkmoth, Automeris zephyria.  We believe this is also an earlier instar, and most images online of the caterpillar of the Zephyr Eyed Silkmoth are of the fifth and final instar.  This BugGuide image shows several caterpillars with the markings represented on your individual.  We found a very close visual match on the members only World’s Largest Saturniidae website, but nonmembers cannot view the image.

automeris zephyria cat jenny 300x174 Two Achemon Sphinx Caterpillars and a Zephyr Eyed Silkmoth Caterpillar

Zephyr Eyed Silkmoth Caterpillar

Dear Bug guy,
Thanks so much – you have just made it to the top of our list of favorite resources. Keep up the amazing work, you rock!!!!
ShineOnBeyond

 

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Posted 04 September 2011 § Hornworms § Silkworms ‡ Comments (0) °

Slug Moth Caterpillar, but which one???

Beautiful Caterpillar
Location: North Carolina
September 3, 2011 11:03 am
I found this beautiful white caterpillar last night while looking for Monkey Slug Caterpillars. I looked around on the internet ,with no luck. I hope you can help our family ID. Thanks for the help with the Spun Glass caterpillar. My two sons liked seeing our photo on your great site.
Signature: Rick Thompson

slug caterpillar mystery rick 300x214 Slug Moth Caterpillar, but which one???

Slug Moth Caterpillar

Hi Rick,
Other than to say that we are nearly certain that is is another Slug Moth Caterpillar in the family Limacodidae, we cannot provide anything definitive, but we have a wild theory.  If you had only provide the front view, we would have most likely stated that this was another Spun Glass Caterpillar because the similarity is so striking, however, the lateral view is quite different.  Our wild theory is based on another letter that was submitted and the theory that was developed: “Speculation over there is that, like you said, it’s not a spun glass slug caterpillar, but it may be just part of one. Maybe a bird got one and shook it at the tentacle floated down and still had some reflex action that made it appear alive.”  Your lateral view appears to be a naked Spun Glass Caterpillar that has lost its appendages.  Many Caterpillars change appearance just prior to pupation.  Some change colors and others lose hairs.  Our new theory is that perhaps this is a Spun Glass Caterpillar, Isochaetes beutenmuelleri, and that it is getting ready to metamorphose.  The appendages might have begun falling off the caterpillar.  That certainly lends credibility that the mystery object in that other letter was a shed Spun Glass Caterpillar tentacle or appendage.  We welcome our readerships comments on this theory.

slug caterpillar mystery rick 2 300x184 Slug Moth Caterpillar, but which one???

Perhaps a molting Spun Glass Caterpillar

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Posted 03 September 2011 § Stinging Slug Caterpillars ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged:

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