This is a very cool species of giant silk moth that most people will, unfortunately, never see. For true spines, though, the saddleback caterpillar has them all beat. It could also be a group of buckmoth caterpillars, which sting. It could also be a kind of moth cateprillar in the family Notodontidae. I picked it up, and the thing stung me. It's a high price to pay to rescue trees that will likely eventually survive anyway! Is it poisonous? The human concept of redemption this idea that we can change for the better can be read into the caterpillar-to-butterfly progression. It has four little tubular things on its back. What should I do? Hi! Answer: This sounds like a tiger swallowtail caterpillar. (If you want to know more about caterpillars and the amazing, strange world they live in, check out my website, Fred's Bughouse.). Two different butterfly caterpillars on the same milkweed plant Queen butterfly. I jump up real quick, frantically looking over everything and there's nothing there. Can you tell me what they are and what they will become? They are so perfectly disguised, or have such secretive habits, that we walk right by them without ever knowing they're there. Question: What is the name of a fuzzy black caterpillar? Papilio polyxenes: The Black Swallowtail This caterpillar looks a lot like the monarch caterpillar, Red Admiral caterpillars eat stinging nettle, By James Lindsey at Ecology of Commanster, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?c. Diatomaceous Earth is refined from dirt found in the bottom of old ocean, lake and stream beds. This beautiful insect is native to the US and Europe. It twisted violently. There are no other members of this group that resemble the gulf fritillary, and the group is well known for its mimicry of other species, so it's likely that the gulf fritillary is "copying" the colors of the true fritillaries in order to gain some protection from predators. The males fly in the late afternoon and resemble big, dark butterflies; the females fly at night and look a little like smaller, browner, cecropia moths. no spikes. Found a very large light green caterpillar with orange/pinkish butt near lake in northern Ontario. It has a very characteristic jagged yellow line down its side, which makes it look quite similar to another spiny caterpillar in this guide, the red admiral butterfly. Carolina Gorriz Santiago on July 18, 2020: I found a caterpillar in Mexico that is brown with a black underside, black irregular markings, no hair or horns and the front end is bigger than the back end. It was very thick around and very long, about 3" long. i live in Spain. The southern flannel moth caterpillar, aka the puss moth caterpillar has a very powerful sting. The newly-hatched moths are truly spectacular. Puss moth caterpillars belong to the Megalopygidae family, which has a fair number of interesting-looking caterpillars. I have pix but can't upload one here? Almost all green caterpillars usually consume a lot of leaves before transforming into beautiful butterflies or moths! The catalpa sphinx can really do a number on an infested tree. The black hair pencils may act as fake antennae, making the insect appear larger or more threatening than it really is. I walk up to the back door of the house to find my girlfriend sitting there in this dazed, shocked kind of upset yet smiling. Answer: Yes, it is not a painted lady. There's even one more color form, a blue-gray morph with a rounded orange "horn.". By Charles J Sharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https:/, Wildreturn at https://flickr.com/photos/80270393@N06/37609117606 (archive). Answer: This is most likely a milkweed tiger moth caterpillar. The caterpillars are very cryptic and secretive on the food plant, which is usually wild cherry. Mourning cloaks often winter in a shelter and begin flying on the first warm days of spring. The osmeteria looks a lot like the forked tongue of a snake, and it also smells bad. Do you have any idea what it is? I myself prefer to pick them off by hand and smash them into my compost pile, but sometimes that's not practical. It had no spines or anything, and it was quite plain. GreenMind Guides (author) from USA on July 30, 2018: Hi -- it could be Eacles imperialis, the imperial moth. There are more than 20,000 different species of caterpillars found around the planet. Quite big and furry, yellow with black uniform markings across it. 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