Black & Red Caterpiller
Sun, Oct 12, 2008 at 10:52 AM
My 4 year old son found this caterpiller in our backyard along with many monarch caterpillers. We live in northern Oklahoma and there are a lot of critters around here & I had just never seen something like this before. I was hoping you’d be able to tell me what kind of caterpiller it is so we can put it in our nature book we started. It’s a great way to get out of the house on a nice day and to teach your children about outside & nature. So please let us know what kind of caterpiller this is. He’s a strange one.
Heather from OK
northwestern oklahoma
Hi Heather,
We believe your caterpillar is a Question Mark Butterfly, Polygonia interrogationis. This is a highly variable caterpillar species, but there is an image on BugGuide that is very close in coloration, though your specimen is much brighter. Question Mark Caterpillars feed on Nettle, false nettle, elms, hackberry, Japanese hops, and it would be very helpful to know what the food plant was for your specimen.
Is there a place to find out which catterpillars sting? Does the question mark catterpillars or comma catterpillars sting?
Owlcation has a nice gallery of stinging caterpillars from North America. Neither the Questionmark nor the Comma Caterpillar stings.