Caterpillar
Location: Southern California, Riverside
October 13, 2011 6:10 am
I shot this little guy Oct 08th 2011, in the San Bernadino Mts, Just west of Oak Glenn, at 4500 Ft altitude.
Signature: Rob Lusk
Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar
Hi Rob,
This is a Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar, Lophocampa maculata. Often a food plant can be used to identify a caterpillar or other insect. Your Spotted Tussock Moth Caterpillar appears to be feeding on blackberry or some other thorny shrub. According to BugGuide: “Larvae prefer leaves of poplar and willow, but also feed on alder, basswood, birch, maple, oak.” Since they are listed as preferences, it implies that other plants are not as preferred as food. BugGuide also has a nice example of regional caterpillar variations, and your individual most closely resembles the Rocky Mountain variation. Perhaps that is really a high altitude variation.
Daniel, Thank You for the Identification. The site is a fantastic resource, that I use frequently. I figured it was on the site somewhere, but I gave up too soon.
All the best,
Rob Lusk
1
¶ Posted 13 October 2011 § ‡ ° 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 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.
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 Moth Caterpillar
Hi Brian,
Your identification of the Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar or Milkweed Tiger Moth Caterpillar, Euchaetes egle, is absolutely correct.
1
Fuzzy caterpillars on my milkweed?
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
August 22, 2011 4:25 pm
Hi! I let some volunteer milkweeds grow in my gardens this year in hopes they’d attract a monarch caterpillar or two.
Last night I was practicing my photography skills in my backyard and thought I might just check to see if I had any little monarch friends and found these fellas instead.
I was hoping you let me know what I’m raising in my yard. I surfed through your butterfly and moth caterpillar pics and didn’t see these.
Thanks!
Signature: Heidi
Milkweed Tiger Moth Caterpillar
Hi Heidi,
Monarchs are not the only insects with caterpillars that feed on milkweed. Several moths including the Milkweed Tiger Moth Caterpillar or Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar, Euchaetes egle, also feed on milkweed. You can see additional photos on this species on BugGuide.
Cycnia Inopinatus – larva/pupa/adult, 1 of 2
Location: Naperville, IL
August 22, 2011 12:32 pm
Dear Daniel~
I found this little caterpillar on August 10th, on some asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed). I tentatively ID’ed it as Cycnia Inopinatus, but I’d read that although it might be locally common, overall it is uncommon to rare due to habitat decline. It was certainly the larva of a tiger moth, and its coloration, host plant and region (Great Lakes area) all pointed to the unexpected tiger moth. I placed it in one of my Monarch egg-rearing containers for observation, but before long, and before I could move it, it made its cocoon and pupated on the container’s lid. (Sorry for the red color cast.) It eclosed this morning, and sure enough, it’s a beautiful little cycnia inopinatus, similar in its adult stage to the delicate cycnia moth (cycnia tenera) that you have on your site, but whose larvae are quite different. The photos of the adult are in a separate submission, and I’ve included a side view so that you can see its orange, speckled abdom en. All the best to you!
Signature: Dori Eldridge
Unexpected Cycnia Caterpillar
Cycnia Inopinatus – larva/pupa/adult, 2 of 2
Location: Naperville, IL
August 22, 2011 12:40 pm
Dear Daniel~
Here are the three adult photos of the cycnia inopinatus (unexpected tiger moth) that eclosed this morning. The second photo shows his (?) antennae, which were previously tucked under the body. It flew away before I could get a better side view! Best regards,
Signature: Dori Eldridge
Unexpected Cycnia Cocoon
Hi Dori,
Thank you so much for providing our website with such a thorough documentation of the metamorphosis of the Unexpected Cycnia, Cycnia inopinatus, a new species of Tiger Moth for our website. We are most intrigued with the number of creatures that depend upon milkweed for survival. Readers who want additional information can see the postings for this species on BugGuide.
Unexpected Cycnia Moth
UPDATE ON CATERPILLARS
Location: Guam
July 24, 2011 9:54 pm
Update from previous question to ID a caterpillar
They’re moths, not sure what kind?!
Signature: Holly
Tiger Moth: Argina astrea
Hi Holly,
Thanks for the update, but we cannot find your original identification request. We believe we have correctly identified your moth as Argina astrea on the Moths of Borneo website. We are very interested in posting the photos of the caterpillars if you are able to resend them by attaching the images to this response. We also want to commend you on successfully raising a caterpillar to maturity and taking photographs of the metamorphosis process. The James Cook University website indicates that the common name, taken from the food plant, is the Crotalaria Pod Borer.
Tiger Moth Pupa: Argina astrea
Thank you! Wonderful information, I really appreciate it, I will be making a donation for your time! I have attached the photos of the plant we found them on as well as the caterpillars. Thank you again.
Thanks,
Holly Hutson
Crotalaria Pod Borer
Hi Again Holly,
We are most excited to be receiving your caterpillar photos, and you are most kind to make a donation even though we missed your first request.
Crotalaria Pod Borer
The plant you submitted is definitely a Crotalaria based on the Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide website.
Crotalaria
Brown hairy caterpillar id
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
June 24, 2011 4:35 pm
Long brown hairs, about 3-4cm long. Thought it might be a Garden Tiger Moth. Spotted June 20, 2011 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Signature: Wildlife & Plant Sightings, junponline.com
Black Woolly Bear
Dear Wildlife and Plant Sightings,
We agree with your identification, but we would like to provide some clarification according to BugGuide. Since the species Arctia caja is found in Europe as well as North America, the common name differs in the new world and old world. The Garden Tiger Moth is known as the Great Tiger Moth in North America. The caterpillar is simply a Woolly Bear in Europe, but in North America it is called the Black Woolly Bear to distinguish it from other Tiger Moth Caterpillars.
¶ Posted 25 June 2011 § ‡ ° Caterpillar
Location: Mexico
April 4, 2011 2:01 pm
A friend of mine on Facebook snapped this picture of a caterpillar in Mexico. We would appreciate its identification.
Signature: Mark
Tussock Moth Caterpillar
Dear Mark,
We believe this is a Tussock Moth Caterpillar, but we do not recognize the species.
Thank you! I looked again and it was more likely taken in Guatemala, not Mexico.
Correction Courtesy of Karl
Hi Daniel and Mark:
It does look a lot like a Tussock Moth, but it is actually a ‘Wasp Moth’, Eucereon latifascia, which ranges from Guatemala to Amazonia. I have to confess that I find the current taxonomy of this group very confusing. The Wasp Moths used to be classified as a subfamily of the Tiger Moth family (Arctiidae: Ctenuchinae), which included several tribes. Several classifications are currently in use, but there seems to be a developing consensus that Tiger Moths and Wasp Moths have been demoted and placed within the family Erebidae (Erebidae: Arctiinae: Ctenuchiini). According to the Bugguide the Ctenuchines are now relegated to subtribe status within the tribe Arctiini. Hopefully it will all sort itself out some day. In any event, the Ctenuchines are often referred to as Wasp Moths because as adults many of them mimic wasps or other menacing insects, but E. latifascia, not so much. Regards. Karl
Thanks for providing this correction Karl. There is some degree of difficulty when using common names to describe insects and other creatures. To add to the confusion, some of the Arctiids have caterpillars known as Tussock Moths that are distinctly different from the Tussock Moths in the subfamily Lymantriinae, also in the family Erebidae. One example is the Milkweed Tussock Moth from North America that is profiled on BugGuide.
¶ Posted 05 April 2011 § ‡ ° 
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