Orange Caterpillar
Orange caterpiller with plue dots observed outdoors in September in El Paso Texas.
Em
El Paso Texas
Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar
Hi Em,
This is a Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar.
Ed. Note: Another reader sent in a similar photo, and though it was not posted live, we did respond. We got the following thank you note:
Thank You. I finally was able to Identify him about the time you sent me the answer. I only spent three or so hours searching and fixating on the darn thing, to find out that he(?) is getting ready to pupate. My family had to pry me from the computer so I would eat. LOL. I would have loved to have had the Web when I was a little girl. Good thing I had encyclopedias and a library.
sincerely grateful,
Patricia Neville
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My kids just found one of these in Montana…..
We found one tiger swallowtail caterpillar in Alton, Utah today, Wednesday, 9/17/2014. At least we think it was one of those. The grandkids had a great time watching it. What does it eat?
According to BugGuide, the Western Tiger Swallowtail “Larvae feed on foliage of deciduous trees, including cottonwood, birch, elms, willow, alder, sycamore, and aspen.”
Is this caterpillar poisonous?
no
We just found one in Black Forest Colorado .. amazing fangs, suction cups and horns – look s like something from a sci fi movie
Hello all,
My daughters found one about a month ago on our patio! In Camp Verde Arizona! We promptly put it into a big glass vase and put dirt, sticks and a bunch of home grown dill with him and he is a cocoon now! Now we just have to wait until may or June next year for it to come out! 😉 we will let y’all know how it goes!
As a point of clarification, a cocoon is a pupal covering, generally made of silk. The naked pupa of a Butterfly is called a chrysalis.
I have a question. are they piosonous? We found one in colorado.
Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillars are not poisonous.
We just found a tiger swallowtail caterpillar in Colorado and created a home for it. I am very limited in my caterpillar knowledge and do not want to starve the poor thing. My kids are so excited to watch the process of it turning into a butterfly. We found it in the sandbox at our park. Is there a preference of trees for them to feed on or food?
According to the Natural History of Orange County website, the Western Tiger Swallowtail feeds on sycamore and willow.
I just found a green one in Nebraska