chrysalis or cocoon
Location: Mountains of North Carolina
December 2, 2011 9:51 am
Found on Physocarpus , a North American native shrub.
What is inside it?
Thank you for your help.
Signature: Carol
Cocoon of a Giant Silkmoth
Dear Carol,
This is the cocoon of a Giant Silkmoth in the family Saturniidae. A Cocoon is generally a silken structure that is spun, possibly incorporating leaves, branches or the hairs from the caterpillar in its construction. The cocoon helps to protect the naked pupa inside. The pupa of a butterfly is often called a chrysalis. We hope that helps some with the proper terminology. We believe this may be a Polyphemus Moth Cocoon (see BugGuide) or possibly a Luna Moth Cocoon (see bugguide), though the cocoons of the Luna Moth generally fall to the ground among leaf litter where a blanket of snow helps to insulate them from the cold.
Cocoon of a Giant Silkmoth
¶ Posted 29 December 2011 § ‡ ° Huge Green Caterpillar
Location: Fort Myers Florida
December 6, 2011 4:14 pm
Hi, I was pruning our coco plums (Chrysobalanus icaco) today Dec six when I found this caterpillar chowing down. He is twice as long as my thumb and as wide. I live in Fort Myers FL. I searched your site to find a picture & info. about this caterpillar, but did not find any. Maybe this is a different species! Thanks in advance for your help!
Signature: Carol Schumann
Imperial Moth Caterpillar
Dear Carol,
These are positively gorgeous photos of an Imperial Moth Caterpillar, Eacles imperialis. Thanks for also providing the name of the food plant, the coco plum. A recent posting of this species from September shows a brown coloration that could be either a color variation, or more likely, the darkening of the pre-pupal caterpillar that usually leaves its food plant to find an appropriate place to dig into the soil to undergo metamorphosis.
Imperial Moth Caterpillar
This is so cool! Thank you for the ID! I had so much fun out there watching him eat and taking his picture! 
¶ Posted 07 December 2011 § ‡ ° Food and Environment for Polyphemus Moth Caterpillar?
November 13, 2011 1:25 pm
Hi!
My husband found one of these crawling the grass at our neighborhood playground in Dallas, TX. We’d love to try and see it through to becoming a moth. What should we provide it for it as far as food, habitat etc? Interestingly enough, a few weeks ago we were given a butterfly habitat(large mesh cylinder with a lid).
Thanks!
Signature: Rachel
Polyphemus Caterpillar from our archives
Dear Rachel,
Your butterfly habitat should do fine. You can also use an old aquarium with a screen top. Chances are quite good that when the Polyphemus Caterpillar left the trees it was feeding upon, “birch, grape, hickory, maple, oak, willow, and members of the rose family” according to BugGuide. The caterpillar will spin a loose cocoon around a large leaf, so provide some old, but not dried leaves on the floor of the habitat for the Polyphemus Caterpillar to spin its cocoon. Here is a nice post from our archives showing stages of Polyphemus metamorphosis.
1
¶ Posted 15 November 2011 § ‡ ° What the heck is that?
Location: China
November 9, 2011 6:59 pm
My friend found a ton of these in a tree. WHAT IN THE WORLD?
Signature: -confused
Atlas Moth Caterpillar
Dear -confused,
We believe this is the caterpillar of an Atlas Moth. If the criterion is wing area, the Atlas Moth is the largest moth in the world. The Squidoo website has a nice profile on the Atlas Moth
1
¶ Posted 10 November 2011 § ‡ ° What are these!?
Location: Branson, MO
October 24, 2011 2:09 am
Hey, was on a hike with the fam in Branson, MO and I found these caterpillar worm looking things all over this leaf. Here’s a couple photos for ya. Hopefully you can identify them for me.
Signature: Carson
Buckmoth Caterpillars
Hi Carson,
These sure look to us like Buckmoth Caterpillars, possibly Hemileuca maia based on this BugGuidephoto. Your email did not indicate if this is a recent sighting. We suspect it was earlier in the season. Please clarify. Was the tree an oak?
Buckmoth Caterpillars
1
¶ Posted 25 October 2011 § ‡ ° CATAPILLER
Location: TEXARKANA TEXAS
October 24, 2011 5:08 pm
FOUND THIS GUY MID DAY OCTOVER 23 2011. HE WAS CLINGING TO AN ABANDONED WASP NEST. I PLACED IT IN A JAR WITH SOME LOCAL VEGITATION AND WITHIN 6-12 HOURS IT HAD WOVEN A BROWN FIBOURS CACOON. I HAVE FOUND IMAGES SIMILAR TO IT BUT ALL THEM WERE OF GREEN CATAPILLARS
Signature: ERIC BATES
Pre-Pupal Luna Moth Caterpillar
Hi Eric,
Many caterpillars change from green to orange, brown or even pink just prior to pupation. This is a Pre-Pupal Luna Moth Caterpillar. Here is a similar photo from BugGuide. In the spring it will emerge into an adult Luna Moth, a beautiful pale green moth with long tails.
¶ Posted 24 October 2011 § ‡ ° Strange caterpillar or what?
Location: Ellicott City, MD
October 20, 2011 9:19 pm
I’ve tried to look through your photos of caterpillars to identify this one. We took this picture this past August while hiking at a local state park, next to the river. I can’t seem to look through very many of your pictures because they creep me out, much like this one did! It is neat at the same time though and I would like to find out what it really is. It was pretty large as you can see, next to my 7 year old’s shoe. We didn’t want to get too close as it was moving across the rock. Thanks for any information you can give me!
Signature: Tracey
Hickory Horned Devil
Dear Tracey,
You had the good fortune to observe the largest caterpillar in North America, the Hickory Horned Devil. Though your sighting is two months old, we have decided to post it anyways since the last Hickory Horned Devil sightings might still occur, though most of our sightings are in August and September. We did not receive as many sightings this past year as we have previously.
Hickory Horned Devil
1
wierd subteranian segmented worm-like thing
Location: zebulon nc
October 8, 2011 3:16 pm
My wife dug this thing up when planting a bush. It moves when touched but it does not appear to be able to move much. Reminds me of something in metamorphosis, except it moves. Its segmented and has a hornlike projection. What is this thing?
Signature: Sterling Mull
Imperial Moth Pupa, we believe
Dear Sterling,
This is the Pupa of one of the Giant Silkmoths, and we believe it is most likely the pupa of the Imperial Moth. Here is a photo from BugGuide that supports our theory.
¶ Posted 09 October 2011 § ‡ ° 
rss
I like This
