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Unidentified Caterpillar

Interesting caterpillar
Location: Orange, California
February 7, 2011 3:15 am
I was outside today gardening and hanging out with my cats when I saw this caterpillar in the garden. At first I thought nothing of it because I rarely see caterpillars in my garden on grass growing between bricks and I didn’t think it was one because of the shape and where it was. (I’m not sure where it came from because we had been cutting, trimming and removing plants from our garden.) But I went back and to my surprise it had a fat head/neck. And on further inspection It was black with yellow stripes. And small little yellow spots. It kind of reminded me of an army worm but I don’t think it is because of the body/head shape and plus it was so small. I took it to my butterfly bush and hope to see if I can find it tomorrow.
Signature: Samantha

caterpillar samantha 300x240 Unidentified Caterpillar

Unknown Caterpillar

Hi Samantha,
We tried browsing through the Cutworms in the very large subfamily Noctuinae on BugGuide to no avail.  We are so amused by your photos that we are posting them in the hope that one of our readers may eventually supply us with a species identification.  Your Caterpillar makes an interesting fashion accessory.

caterpillar samantha 2 300x206 Unidentified Caterpillar

Unknown Caterpillar

Followup Query
June 5, 2011 2:08 am
Hi, I sent these pics to you in feburary and was wondering if you got any information on them? I’m still interested in knowing what kind of caterpillar this is. Thank you..
Samantha

Hi Samantha,
We did not have any luck in our initial attempt to identify this caterpillar, and unfortunately, none of our readers ever supplied us with an identification.  Sorry to disappoint you.  Sometimes identifications eventually happen months or years after the initial posting.

Posted 08 February 2011 § Cutworms and Owlet Caterpillars ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Unknown Moth Caterpillar from Singapore

id a caterpillar
Location: Singapore
February 3, 2011 8:36 am
I was walking in the Singapore MacRitchie reservoir, and foaund a large family of these caterpillars. i have no knowledge about that, but we wonder what it will become in a few weeks?
Signature: Philippe

caterpillar social singapore philippe 300x186 Unknown Moth Caterpillar from Singapore

Unknown Caterpillar

Dear Philippe,
We tried to identify this social Caterpillar without much luck.  It will eventually metamorphose into a moth.  The Singapore Butterfly Interest Group website has no matching images, but it wouldn’t be much help if they did because none of the Moth Caterpillars there are identified.  The social feeding pattern should help in the identification, and knowing the food plant might also be of tremendous assistance.

Posted 03 February 2011 § moth caterpillars ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Chinese Yellow Swallowtail Caterpillar in Hawaii

swallowtail caterpillar in hawai’i
Location: Honolulu, HI
February 1, 2011 10:33 pm
Can you tell me what kind of swallowtail this is?
Found them on my tangelo…
Mahalo!
Signature: local boy

chinese yellow swallowtail caterpillar hawaii 300x206 Chinese Yellow Swallowtail Caterpillar in Hawaii

Chinese Yellow Swallowtail Caterpillar

Dear local boy,
We did a web search and found that the Chinese Yellow Swallowtail, Papilio xuthus, is well documented in Hawaii based on the Butterflies of Hawaii website.  The image of the caterpillar on the Chinese Yellow Swallowtail pictured on the Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias website matches your specimen.

Wow, that was super-quick!
Mahalo nui Daniel!  Me and my kids love the website–mahalo for your labor of love.
Kua’aina

Posted 02 February 2011 § swallowtail caterpillars ‡ Comments (2) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Salt Marsh Caterpillar spins Cocoon

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 mrs maiolo 300x154 Salt Marsh Caterpillar spins Cocoon

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 cocoon 300x206 Salt Marsh Caterpillar spins Cocoon

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.

Posted 01 February 2011 § Woolly Bears ‡ Comments (1) °

Unknown Caterpillar from Zimbabwe

Caterpillar
Location: Zimbabwe
January 31, 2011 9:56 am
Hi we found this caterpillar in Harare, Zimbabwe, dying to know what it is. Its about 9cm long. Hope you can help.
Signature: Dana Lister

caterpillar child zimbabwe dana 300x225 Unknown Caterpillar from Zimbabwe

Unknown Caterpillar

Dear Dana,
We don’t recognize your caterpillar, which we believe will metamorphose into a moth and not a butterfly, but we love your photo.  We will post your letter and images and continue to search for the identity of this stunning creature, and we hope that our readership will assist us in scouring the internet for a possible identification.

caterpillar zimbabwe dana 300x206 Unknown Caterpillar from Zimbabwe

Unknown Caterpillar

Posted 01 February 2011 § moth caterpillars ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Achemon Sphinx Caterpillar

Name that bug
Location: Northern California
January 26, 2011 4:42 pm
I found this little guy crawling in my backyard September 2009. Took some pictures of him and put him in the garden. What is it?
Signature: -Kimber

eumorpha cat kimber 300x217 Achemon Sphinx Caterpillar

Achemon Sphinx Caterpillar

Dear Kimber,
Though the caterpillar is highly variable in coloration and markings, we are quite certain that this is the caterpillar of the Achemon Sphinx, Eumorpha achemon.  You may compare you photo to images posted to Bugguide.

Thank you
Kimber Thompson & son

Posted 29 January 2011 § Hornworms ‡ Comments (0) °

Spiny Hornworm Caterpillar from South Africa: Lophostethus dumolinii

Green caterpillar south africa
Location: Mpumalanga, South Africa
January 29, 2011 7:14 am
We found this green caterpillar on our tree outside. It is approx. 100mm long x 25mm thick. ictures are with a large bic lighter to illustrate size. We would really like to know what kind of caterpillar it is.
Signature: Green caterpillar

caterpillar south africa 1 300x225 Spiny Hornworm Caterpillar from South Africa: Lophostethus dumolinii

Spined Hornworm from South Africa

Dear Green caterpillar,
We have not had any luck identifying your caterpillar on the World’s Largest Saturniidae Site.  Though we are confident that this is a Silkmoth Caterpillar in the family Saturniidae, the species identification is proving elusive

caterpillar south africa 2 300x225 Spiny Hornworm Caterpillar from South Africa: Lophostethus dumolinii

Sphingidae Caterpillar: Lophostethus dumolinii

We hope that our email to Bill Oehlke will provide an identification.  Can you provide the name of the tree upon which this caterpillar was discovered?

caterpillar south africa bic 300x225 Spiny Hornworm Caterpillar from South Africa: Lophostethus dumolinii

Spiny HornwormCaterpillar from South Africa

Bill Oehlke provides a surprising revelation
Daniel,
I think it is not one of the Saturniidae. I remember being very surprised one time to learn that some of the South African Sphingidae have spines. I am pretty sure it is one of the Sphingidae, but I cannot remember which one.
Bill Oehlke

Ed. Note: We will begin searching this new possibility.

Bill Oehlke finds the ID
Hi Daniel,
The larva is one of the Sphingidae. It is Lophostethus dumolinii. Can you get me a larger image of the larva and the photographer’s email
Bill Oehlke

Thanks so much Bill.  We can provide you with the contact information of the person who submitted the images.  They may have higher resolution files, but we do not.

Ed. Note: We have not had any luck finding images of the caterpillar online, but Biodiversity Explorer identifies Lophostethus umolinii as the Arrow Sphinx Hawkmoth and has an image of the adult moth.

arrow sphinx south africa jeni 300x147 Spiny Hornworm Caterpillar from South Africa: Lophostethus dumolinii

Arrow Sphinx

Dear Daniel,
Thank you for all the trouble you have gone to to find the species of the caterpillar I really appreciate it. Attached are larger images of the caterpillar as found in the tree. I am not too sure what the tree is but will try to look it up in the indigenous south African directory as it is an indigenous plant.  I had to move it to another tree as it was near our animals which would disturb it – I have just checked and it has made a home in the new tree and looks like it is getting ready to cocoon (if that is what you call it). Hopefully I can follow its progress and we can see the end result.
Thanks
Jeni

arrow sphinx south africa jeni 2 300x169 Spiny Hornworm Caterpillar from South Africa: Lophostethus dumolinii

Arrow Sphinx

Hi again Jeni,
Thanks so much for sending the higher resolution images of the Arrow Sphinx.  By clicking on the images to enlarge them, our readership can compare the difference in quality.  The caudal horn is much more apparent in these higher resolution images.

arrow sphinx south africa jeni bic 300x186 Spiny Hornworm Caterpillar from South Africa: Lophostethus dumolinii

Arrow Sphinx

Posted 29 January 2011 § Hornworms ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Velda Pine Moth Caterpillar

Big Bear Caterpillar
Location: Big Bear Lake, CA (San Bernardino National Forest)
January 29, 2011 1:58 am
I saw an interesting looking caterpillar when I was hiking near Big Bear, CA. Later we saw the same type of caterpillar rolling down a hill, doing their best to rid themselves of a bunch of red ants.
Signature: Sat Garcia

velda pine moth caterpillar sat 300x183 Velda Pine Moth Caterpillar

Velda Pine Moth Caterpillar

Dear Sat,
We quickly identified your caterpillar as the Velda Pine Moth Caterpillar, Coloradia velda, on the private World’s Largest Saturniidae Site, and we are linking to images on the Santa Clarita and Northern Los Angeles County Area Butterfly and Moth Site.  You may view dozens of photos documenting the metamorphosis process of the Velda Pine Moth there.  Adult moths do not eat but the gregarious caterpillars feed on the needles of a number of native pines.

Posted 29 January 2011 § Silkworms ‡ Comments (0) °

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