rss catarpilar
Goodmorning,
I found this stuck to my trousers and i dont know what it is or were it comes from,but i like to know what it is, i live in Galway Ireland, kind regards
Jeannette
Hi Jeannette
Your caterpillar is a Puss Moth Caterpillar, Cerura vinula. The UK Moths site indicates that the common name comes from the moths resemblance to a cat. The caterpillar feeds on willow, poplar and aspen. Artist Katherine Plymley has a metamorphosis watercolor reproduced online.
Fuschia Chompers
Hello Bug Pro
Can you tell me what these fellas are? The nearly destroyed the fuschia and sure traumatized my wife when she stuck her finger on one. We live in Lander, Wyoming
Thanks Scott
Hi Scott,
Your photo illustrates two possible color morphs of the Whitelined Sphinx Caterpillar, Hyles lineata. There are several additional color possibilities. The adult moths are a lovely hummingbird type moth that often flies at dawn and dusk. It is sometimes called the Striped Morning Sphinx. Fuschia is one of the preferred host plants, but the caterpillars will also feed on other cultivated plants.
HELP, we’re losing sleep!!
okay – I don’t mean to hound you talented and brilliant bug identifiers, BUT… This caterpillar is driving us crazy. I sent a picture to you (image 1) yesterday, and after 12 or so hours of total inactivity this little friend crept out of his skin and turned into someone else (image 2). Now, still inactive. My 6 year old son and I have scoured your site and others to identify this little beast, but to no avail. Oh please, help us. I know our guy is not exciting, but he is nowhere on your site. So at least he’s original! We are in Kansas, and he was found on a cherry tree eating like a maniac. I’ll send both pics. 24 hours apart. THANK YOU.
Lee and Page in Prairie Village, KS
Hi Lee and Page,
These are early instars of a Paddle Caterpillar, Acronicta funeralis, also knows as the Funerary Dagger Moth. BugGuide has some nice photo documentation of the changes the caterpillar goes through. By the time the caterpillar grows to its fifth and final instar, it is not recognizeable as the bird poop caterpillar you first photographed. We do have at least one image of a final instar caterpillar somewhere in our archives, but your photos are filling in some nice blanks in the metamorphosis. We hope you will continue to send us photos as the caterpillar changes. Put Paddle Caterpillar in the subject line if you send additional images.
Green morph of Hyles gallii?
Hi,
A Fireweed plant (Epilobium angustifolium) volunteered to grow in my backyard last year. Since it is both one of my favourite native plants and the bees love it, I let it be. This year there is a small stand of them providing some urban habitat for a variety of creatures; I’ve got: bees (at least 5 species), ants, beetles, wasps, flies, moths, and one 6-7cm long hornworm which I have not been able to find an identical photo of on the web. I am hoping you can help identify it. After looking at all 14 pages of caterpillar pictures, following your links, and trying out some of the ID keys at other sites–I am thinking it is a late instar of a green variation of the Bedstraw Hawk moth/Gallium Sphinx (Hyles gallii) larvae. I have attached top and side views of the caterpillar at rest, and a couple of it feeding on a flower bud (appears to be its favourite food) which have better views of the two types of legs. I haven’t been able to get good, clear, closeup photos of the head and tail views, yet. Sending you over 16M of photos didn’t seem like a good idea so I scaled them down to 240×320 pixels, stripped out the EXIF data, and saved them `for the web’ on the offhand chance one is interesting enough to put up on your site. Full resolution images are available if necessary.
Bruce
Edmonton, Alberta
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for sending what we also believe is a Gallium Sphinx Caterpillar, Hyles gallii. The small files enabled us to determine which of your large files to download. We are going to copy Bill Oehlke on this response to see if he agrees and also so he can add this information to his comprehensive species distribution data.
identify caterpillar
My neighbor thinks I know it all, I can’t find this “cat” in any of my books and I have tried the web to no avail. Please help, she keeps calling me (I really don’t mind). But, anyway it seems she has a lot of them and if they will become beautiful butterflies she will not kill them. It is about 3” long and ferocious in its appetite. We live in Port Orange, central fl. Thank you,
Louise
Hi Louise,
This is an Echo Moth Caterpillar, Seirarctia echo, one of the Tiger Moths. BugGuide only has images of the caterpillars. Wild Florida Photo has images of the pretty brown and white striped moth.
2 pictures for you
Dear Bugman,
These fellows are feeding on the wild grape that shades our porch (Delhi, NY). Pretty big now — 4″ long and fat — and still eating. What are they?? Thanks,
Kids at Lotus School
Dear Kids at Lotus School,
This is an Abbott’s Sphinx Caterpillar, Specodina abbotti. This caterpillar has several different color variations, and the brown one is much more subtle than the green spotted brown variation we have been recently sent. We are copying Bill Oehlke on your response as he is keeping comprehensive records on species distribution.
ficus creature
Heya guys, Cool site. I live in South Florida and I found this tasty little morsel under a ficus tree after a July rain storm. I don’t know if it crawled there or fell from the tree. Any way I hope it wasn’t poisonous! So what was it? seeya,
Britt
Hi Britt,
We do not recognize your caterpillar, but have decided to post it before trying to identify it. Structually, it resembles a Milkweed Butterfly in the subfamily Danainae, but not the species represented on BugGuide found in Florida. The coloration is quite different. It also doesn’t matche the species found on Geocities from Australia. We wonder if perhaps this is some tropical species that found its way to Florida, or if it is an escapee from a butterfly pavilion.
Update: (07/15/2008)
Daniel:
Had we not had one of these caterpillars posted on Bugguide about a week ago, I never would have known what it was, either. But, it is the larva of the “ruddy daggerwing” butterfly, native to Florida. Neat find, great pic!
Eric
Thanks Eric for the information about the Ruddy Daggerwing, Marpesia petreus.
pink caterpillar
Dear Bugman,
I found this pretty bubblegum pink caterpillar this afternoon eating my scarlet runner beans. My daughters and I have really enjoyed your site, and thought about you right away. I’m attaching two pictures, and I hope that you can help us.
Sherry O’Rorke
Sparkman, Arkansas
Hi Sherry,
We believe this is some species of Slug Caterpillar in the family Limacodidae, but we were unable to locate an exact match on BugGuide.
Update: (07/21/2008)
Sirs – The ” Probably Unknown Slug Caterpillar (07/11/2008) pink caterpillar” most likely is in the family Lycaenidae. See http://www.dallasbutterflies.com/Butterflies/LARVA/pics/henricilarvae.jpg for an example.
Ed Saugstad
Sinks Grove, WV.
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