Subject: Painted Lady Caterpillars?
Geographic location of the bug: Lake County Illinois
Date: 07/24/2019
Time: 07:11 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I work in a landscape yard so naturally I see a lot of critters. This one was new for me. We have a plant called helichrysum icicles that were covered in little busted open, poop filled,fuzzy tents and these caterpillars wandering aimlessly on the plants. Best I can tell, they are Painted Lady, but I am uncertain.
How you want your letter signed: Karin
Dear Karin,
In our opinion, you have the correct genus but not the correct species. We believe this is an American Lady Caterpillar, Vanessa virginiensis, based on this BugGuide image, and not a Painted Lady Caterpillar, Vanessa cardui, which is also pictured on BugGuide.
Thank you so much! They didn’t seem to be doing anything destructive, thankfully.