A Very Hungry Caterpillar

August 30, 2011 Bruno Leave a comment

One of the joys of a such a leafy green rainy summer has been the proliferation of all sorts of wonderful caterpillars. Presented here are a handful for your enjoyment.

milkweed_tussock — The milkweed tussock moth caterpillar (Euchaetes egle) makes a series of dramatic twitches when disturbed. A whole cluster of them twitching away can be quite alarming!

hickory_tussock — The hickory tussock moth (Lophocampa caryae) is one of my favorites. These beauties were absolutely everywhere this year (maybe because we have so many hickories — but this one on an apple tree).

yellow_bear — I think this is a Yellow Bear caterpillar (Spilosome virginica), in the same tiger moth family as the tussock moths, but it has a really different look. If anyone has a better ID, I'm open to suggestions...

woolly_bear — The woolly bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) is another favorite. When we were kids someone told me that the relative width of the red stripe is supposed to foretell the length of the coming winter... batten down the hatches!*

black_swallowtail — The black swallowtail butterfly caterpillars (Papilio Polyxenes) enjoy all the Queen Anne's Lace flowering along our roadsides, but lately they've been setting up shop on the parsley in Melissa's garden.

monarch — Everyone's favorite, the monarch butterfly caterpillar (Danaus plexippus). This one is packing on a few extra calories before getting a late start for Mexico -- happy trails!

*I’m backdating this post from after the October snowstorm, so I have the benefit of hindsight. Boy was he right!

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