Caterpillar ID
Location: Ocala National Forest
March 22, 2011 11:07 pm
I cannot find another image of this caterpillar anywhere. Can you help identify it?
Signature: Buteo

Echo Moth Caterpillar

Dear Buteo,
Without a doubt, this is the caterpillar of an Echo Moth, one of the Tiger Moths.  BugGuide only reports it from Florida, though it may also be found in other Southern states.  BugGuide also indicates that it feeds upon “Coontie, cabbage palmetto, crotons, lupie, oaks, persimmon and other woody plants”.

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Fuzzy Caterpillar
Location: Arcadia, FL
February 1, 2011 8:43 am
My very curious and observant 2nd grade students found this caterpillar rolled up in a ball in the grass in our school yard on January 31. We are in Nocatee FL, just outside of Arcadia FL. (Southwest FL but more inland) He reminds me of a wooly bear but without the banding. I can’t find any photos online that look quite like him. They are all either too hairy, too orange, etc. We put some oak leaves/branches in our butterfly habitat with him but he doesn’t seem to be eating. I need to know what he eats! Also if he is some sort of tiger moth then everything I read says they will be in a pupa for most of spring/summer – would be good to know so we are not waiting endlessly for something to happen. Just wondering what you can tell me… THANK YOU!!!
Signature: Mrs. Maiolo’s 2nd Grade Class

Salt Marsh Caterpillar

Dear Mrs. Maiolo’s 2nd Grade Class,
There is a reason this Salt Marsh Caterpillar, Estigmene acrea, reminds you of a Woolly Bear.  Both species are in the Tiger Moth tribe Arctiini.  BugGuide provides this information:  “Larvae feed on a wide variety of mainly weedy plants including pigweed (Amaranthus spp.), anglepod (Gonolobus spp.), Sicklepod (Cassia tora), Dog Fennel (Eupatorium capillifolium), ground cherry (Physalis spp.), and mallow (Anoda spp.), plus crops such as alfalfa, asparagus, bean, beet, cabbage, carrot, celery, clover, corn, cotton, lettuce, onion, pea, potato, soybean, sugarbeet, tobacco, tomato, and turnip. On rare occasions, they also feed on leaves of deciduous trees and shrubs: alder, apple, cherry, elderberry, pear, poplar, and serviceberry, according to Handfield.”   BugGuide also indicates:  “Adults fly from May to September. Adults fly year round in Texas“  and we expect the year round flight may also apply to Florida.  If your caterpillar is getting ready to pupate, it will cease eating.

Thank you! I did go outside today and pick some various weeds, etc and he was munching a bit.
(Then, my kids came in with what appears to be a Silk Moth today… oh boy… and it started laying eggs in our butterfly habitat! So that is another adventure… never had a class that was so “into” bugs before… these kids are constantly bringing me critters!)
Thanks again for your help!

Update
February 3, 2011
Sorry to keep bugging you (no pun intended), but thought you might like to add this photo to the caterpillar entry… it made a cocoon today! So, now we wait!…..

Salt Marsh Moth Cocoon

Thanks for the update.  Like many Woolly Bears, the Salt Marsh Caterpillar incorporates its hairs into the spinning of its cocoon.

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Pebble Encased Caterpillar

Woolly Bear Mystery

Pebble Encased Caterpillar
Location:  Southwestern Montana, at about 5,000 feet in a mixed pine forest
October 10, 2010 9:48 am
Daniel:
Here is the mystery: the small and large caterpillar working together to encase the larger caterpillar in a pebble cocoon. My friend captured them in the act on a rock in a road near a campground in Western Montana in late August. The larger caterpillar began to coat itself with a sticky excretion. The smaller caterpillar climbed up and down the rock to find little pebbles, carry them to the larger caterpillar and stick them on, until the larger caterpillar was completely encased. The photographer then removed the caterpillars from the road for safety. I wrote about them in my nature column in the local newspaper, have not had any luck identifying them, and have promised my readers that I would let them know when I knew more.
We all really appreciate your help.
Signature:  Dorinda in Montana

Woolly Bear Mystery

Hi Again Dorinda,
Thanks for taking the time to resend this unusual occurrence.  We are mystified and we cannot even begin to explain what these images appear to document.  We know of no cases of Caterpillars combining forces for any such activities, nor do we know of any Tiger Moth Caterpillars, commonly called Woolly Bears, using pebbles in the construction of a cocoon.  Perhaps our readership will be able to provide something in the way of an explanation.  The pink background in the final image is curious.

Woolly Bear Mystery

The last picture had a pink background due to moving the rock out of the road to keep it safe from traffic. The friend who took the series (I’ve attached a couple of others), swears that she and her husband watched the smaller caterpillar bring the pebbles to the larger one. She was absolutely amazed. She and her husband are pretty simple folks, and love to camp out, which is when they spotted this pair. I’d really don’t believe that they staged this in any way. She actually brought the rock back with to her house in town, and put it in her garage for shelter.
As I said, I’m a writer with a nature column going on 25 years in our local newspaper, called Bird Seed, and I get told a lot of stories about birds and animals. This story was brought up casually, and took some work on my part to get the photos sent to me digitally, as they did not know how to do it. She initially showed them to me on her camera at the farmer’s market where she has a booth, and asked me if I knew what they were, or had heard of anything like it before. I sure hadn’t, but thought of you. She told me that her husband lay down in the road to take the pics with his brand new digital camera, and had to move a couple of times due to traffic.
I know that the photos are not quite good enough to show the smaller caterpillar and the pebble he is carrying clearly, but one of the pic number 4 does show that.
I really appreciate any help you can be with this little mystery.
Dorinda Troutman

Woolly Bear Mystery

Hi again Dorinda,
The new photo you included seems to chronologically fit between the final two images you sent earlier, and it does not provide any additional information regarding this mystery.  Again, hopefully our readership may provide some clues.

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Unknown Yellow and Black Caterpillar
June 19, 2010
I took pictures of this in July 2009 behind my apartments at the powerlines. I am rather new to macro photography and find bugs a interesting subject.
I have been unable to identify this one. He has sparse hair as you can see in 3rd picture and is a yellow/orange and black stripped.
There was literally thousands of them among the plants of various types.
Keith98058
Renton, Washington

Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar

Hi Keith,
These are Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars, Tyria jacobaeae, a European species that according to BugGuide was:  “Introduced from Europe as a control for introduced weedy Ragwort, the host plant for its caterpillars, which is toxic to livestock.“  BugGuide also indicates:  “Larvae feed on Senecio jacobaea. HOSTS database also lists Salt-marsh Fleabane (Pluchea odorata), Hound’s-tongue (Cynoglossum officinale), Hops (Humulus lupulus) and Sow Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus).“

Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar

The Weed Species website pictures Tansy Ragwort, Senecio jacobaea, and it looks like the plant your caterpillar specimens are feeding upon.

Cinnabar Moth Caterpillars

Thank you so much for the reply, I really do appreciate the in-depth answer.  It never ceases to amaze me all of the non native species that were introduced to control one problem or another.
Keith

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