Huge Green Caterpillar
Location: Fort Myers Florida
December 6, 2011 4:14 pm
Hi, I was pruning our coco plums (Chrysobalanus icaco) today Dec six when I found this caterpillar chowing down. He is twice as long as my thumb and as wide. I live in Fort Myers FL. I searched your site to find a picture & info. about this caterpillar, but did not find any. Maybe this is a different species! Thanks in advance for your help!
Signature: Carol Schumann
Dear Carol,
These are positively gorgeous photos of an Imperial Moth Caterpillar, Eacles imperialis. Thanks for also providing the name of the food plant, the coco plum. A recent posting of this species from September shows a brown coloration that could be either a color variation, or more likely, the darkening of the pre-pupal caterpillar that usually leaves its food plant to find an appropriate place to dig into the soil to undergo metamorphosis.
This is so cool! Thank you for the ID! I had so much fun out there watching him eat and taking his picture! 🙂
What do Imperial Mith Larvae eat?
According to BugGuide: “Larvae feed on leaves of Bald Cypress, basswood, birch, cedar, elm, hickory, Honeylocust, maple, oak, pine, Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), sycamore, walnut.”