Bagworm Moth Caterpillar (Family Psychidae)

Larvae (bagworms) construct spindle-shaped bags covered with pieces of twigs, leaves, etc., and remain in them -- enlarging the bags as they grow -- until they pupate (also in the bag). Adult females remain in the bag, emitting pheromones which attract adult males to mate with them.  Males become more typical moths.  (There are 26 species in 13 genera in North America.)

Eggs are laid inside the bag, and when they hatch the larvae crawl away to begin construction of their own individual cases.

Source:  BugGuide



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Bagworm Moth Caterpillar (Family Psychidae)

Tersa Sphinx (Xylophanes tersa)

Adult Tersa Sphinx moths have a pointed abdomen (though this one is a little bent) and contrasting black markings on hindwings.

Tersa Sphinx (Xylophanes tersa)

One of my favorite moths because they look so streamlined and sleek.


Range:  Massachusetts south to south Florida; west to Nebraska, New Mexico, and southern Arizona; south through Mexico, the West Indies, and Central America to Argentina. 

Food:  Adults take nectar from deep-throated  flowers.  They begin feeding around sunset.  I often see them feeding in our Datura right after the blooms have opened in the evening.

Caterpillar host plants include smooth buttonplant (Spermacoce glabra), starclusters (Pentas species), Borreria, Catalpa, and Manettia species.

Tersa Sphinx caterpillars occur in both green and brown forms.  This is a fairly early instar and only about 3/4" long.

.Tersa Sphinx caterpillars have one large eyespot  and six smaller eyespots in a line down their sides.  In earlier instars, smaller eyespots are barely visible and striping more pronounced.

Sources:  

BugGuide Species Page

Butterflies and Moths of North America

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Tersa Sphinx (Xylophanes tersa)

Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta)

Stretching To Reach The Best Parts

This is the critter most folks (including me) call a Tomato Hornworm, but according to BugGuide it is actually a Tobacco Hornworm.  The white literal stripes edged with black and the curved, reddish-colored terminal horn are distinctive.  Regardless, it is the larva of a Carolina Sphinx Moth and can often be found munching on members of the Nightshade family throughout most of North and South America.  (We've also found them eating pepper plants in our garden.)


(The University of Florida has an excellent page comparing Tobacco and Tomato Hornworms, including adult moth images.)

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Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta)

Woolly Bear Caterpillar Predicting the Weather in My World

Woolly Bear Caterpillar - Pyrrharctia isabella

(Photo:  Jo Smith on 11/14/09)

Folklore says: The longer the black ends on a Woolly Bear caterpillar, the longer and more severe the winter will be.

Entomologists say: The amount of black varies with the age of the caterpillar and the moisture levels in the area where it developed. Also, the length of the black ends can vary on caterpillars grown out together from the same group of eggs.

BugGuide makes a half-hearted defense of the Woolly Bear's powers of weather prediction by saying: The variability of the bands depends on many factors. As larvae mature, the reddish bands lengthen. Wetter weather lengthens the black bands. So while not a reliable measure, it makes some sense that onset of an early and thus longer winter will force younger and less red caterpillars into hibernation.

Woolly Bear caterpillars are the larval stage of Isabella Tiger Moths (Pyrrharctia isabella). They are common throughout almost all of North America. Larvae eat many plants and trees including grasses, asters, birches, clover, corn, elms, maples and sunflowers. There are usually two broods of P. isabella each summer. The first of two broods pupates in summer. The second brood overwinters as a caterpillar and pupates in spring. A photo of an adult Isabella Tiger Moth is here.

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Woolly Bear Caterpillar Predicting the Weather in My World

Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth - Spoladea recurvalis

Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth

(Photo:  Marvin Smith on 11/8/09)

Identification: Brown with two incomplete white stripes on each forewing, and a complete white stripe across each hindwing ... wingspan 19-21 mm (around 3/4")

Range: The common name "Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth" sounds exotic and specialized. In fact, it is neither. In North America S. recurvalis is found from Ontario and New York south to Florida and west to California. Worldwide distribution includes most warmer regions in Australia, Africa and southeast Asia -- and, yes, Hawaii. 

Host plants: Larvae feed on beets, chard, spinach and a wide variety of related weeds in genera Chenopodium and Amaranthus. In Africa, Spinach Moth is the common name for this moth.

Hawaiian Beet Webworm Caterpillar

(Photo:  Alton N. Sparks, Jr., University of Georgia, Bugwood.org)

Sources and links:
Spoladea recurvalis on BugGuide
Flora of Zimbabwe
OzAnimals
Chenopodium on Wikipedia
Amaranthus on Wikipedia

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Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth - Spoladea recurvalis

Melonworm Moth - Diaphania hyalinata

Melonworm Moth - Diaphania hyalinata

(Photo:  Marvin Smith on 11/2/09)

Identification: Very distinctive white to translucent wings with dark brown border ... a tuft of bushy hairlike scales at the tip of the abdomen ... wingspan 2.5-3 cm (around an inch).

Range: Permanent range is Central and South America, the Caribbean, and southern Florida (and maybe South Texas). Moths disperse northward in the eastern U. S. during the summer and have been recorded in New England and the Great Lakes region.

Life cycle: Egg, five instars, pupae and adult. Under optimal conditions, Melonworm Moths can complete a full life cycle in 30 days.

Host plants: Melonworm caterpillars feed on cucurbits. Summer and winter squash are preferred. Cucumber, gerkin, cantaloupe and some pumpkins are secondary choices. Larvae feed mainly on foliage, but may feed on the surface of the fruit, or even burrow into the fruit after eating all the leaves. Crop yield losses to D. hyalinata can be significant.

Comments: The University of Florida says moths are not attracted to light traps, but the moth I photographed was under our porch light.

I found mentions of the "tail feathers" as aids in dispersing pheromones. I believe this is correct, but could not confirm from a reliable source.

Melonworm caterpillar

(Photo:  Alton N. Sparks, Jr., University of Georgia via Forestry Images)

The two white stripes on the Melonworm caterpillar are distinctive, but may be faint in early instars and are lost in the final instar.

Sources and Links:
Forestry Images
BugGuide Species Page
University of Florida

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Melonworm Moth - Diaphania hyalinata

Nature Notes: Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)

Female Pipevine Swallowtail  (Photo: Marvin Smith on 11/03/09)

In the East and California, Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor) are seen mainly in the spring and summer. However, here here in the South they are more common in late summer and fall. In Mexico they fly year round.

Adult B. philenor nectar from a wide variety of flowers and are usually found in open fields or open spaces bordering woodlands. The female in the photo above was nectaring from the zinnias that brighten our vegetable garden.

Male Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly
(Photo: Sturgis McKeever, Georgia Southern University, Bugwood.org)

The inner hindwings on male Pipevine Swallowtails are more iridescent than those on females. B. philenor mimics several other butterflies including Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (female, dark phase), Black Swallowtail (female), Spicebush Swallowtail, Red-spotted Purple and Diana Fritillary. BugGuide provides comparison images that help differentiate between these butterflies.

Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar
(Photo: Sturgis McKeever, Georgia Southern University, Bugwood.org)

Larvae/caterpillars feed on Aristolochia species. Larvae presumably take up toxic secondary compounds from their hostplant. Both larvae and adults are believed toxic to vertebrate predators, and both have aposematic (warning) coloration. (BugGuide)

Pipevine Swallowtail chrysalis
(Photo: Sturgis McKeever, Georgia Southern University, Bugwood.org)

In temperate regions, Pipevine Swallowtails overwinter as pupae (in a chrysalis). In mid-season, the butterfly spends about two weeks in this pupal stage.

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Nature Notes: Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)

Luna Moth (Actias luna) Life Cycle

Luna moths are beautiful. This individual is a male. As is the case with many moths, males have larger and more feathery antennae than females. Female Luna Moths emit pheromones.  Males use their antennae to "smell" and find females.  Males also have slightly longer tails.   (Photo by Jo on 3/21/07.)

I happen to think Luna Moth caterpillars are also quite attractive. Their bright green color almost seems to glow. After emerging from their eggs, Luna Moth caterpillars go through five stages (instars) before pupating. The larger specimen in the photo above is in its fifth and final instar. (Photo by Marvin on 9/8/09.)

But even I have to admit: A Luna Moth pupa isn't much to look at. When a fifth instar Luna Moth caterpillar is ready to pupate, it crawls down into the leaf litter and uses it silk -- It is a Giant Silkworm Moth, after all. -- to bind several leaves together. It then spins a cocoon inside which the pupa forms. (Photo by Marvin on 9/12/09.)

I've removed most of the leaves in the shot above. You can see a little bit of the silken cocoon. I could carefully remove the pupa from the cocoon without harming it, but won't. The cocoon and leaves help protect the pupa and keep it slightly damp during the long wait until spring, so I will leave them in place.

(BugGuide has images of all stages in a Luna Moth's life cycle, including a shot of the papa without its protective cocoon.)

A little general information on Luna Moths from their BugGuide species page: In the United States, Luna Moths have been found in every state east of the Great Plains. Their primary habitat is deciduous forests. Adult moths only live about a week. They do not (cannot) eat as adult moths. Their only objective is reproduction.

Please click the logo above to participate and/or find links to more Camera Critters photos.

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Luna Moth (Actias luna) Life Cycle

Luna Moth Caterpillar (Actias luna)

Luna Moth Caterpillars (Actias luna) are such a bright lime-green they almost appear translucent. We found about a dozen caterpillars on a couple of sweet gum saplings growing along side the road just up from the house.

From a distance, the Luna Moth caterpillar does an excellent job of looking like a leaf. The weak subspiracular stripe on abdomen and yellow lines that cross the larva's back near the back end of each segment look like leaf veins. We'd probably walked passed these caterpillars many times before noticing them. I actually found the caterpillars by first noticing the eaten leaves on the sapling. I then started looking for the caterpillar that had done the damage.

The larger caterpillar is in its fifth and final instar. I'm not sure about the smaller. Even if the eggs are laid at the same time and they hatch at about the same time, caterpillars often pass through their instars at different rates. (Note: The anal proleg edged in yellow is one of the identifying characteristics of a Luna Moth caterpillar.)

Luna Moth caterpillar demonstrating the coordination between its six true legs and mouth. It's dining on sweet gum in this case. Hickory, walnut, persimmon, and birch are also common host trees. The caterpillar must eat enough now to sustain it through the adult stage of its life cycle because adult Luna Moths are incapable of eating.

For more information on Luna Moths, please see:
BugGuide Species Page.
BugGuide photos of all five caterpillar instars.
Butterflies and Moths of North America.
Animal Diversity Web.

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Luna Moth Caterpillar (Actias luna)

Cecropia Moth Caterpillar (Hyalophora cecropia)

Judging by it's size (only about 1 1/2 inches/4cm) and markings, I'd guess that this Cecropia Moth caterpillar (Hyalophora cecropia) is in its third instar. It grows through five instars, shedding its skin between each stage. It will grow to over 4 inches/10 cm before spinning a cocoon where it will overwinter before emerging as a moth. Caterpillars feed on leaves of various trees and shrubs including alder, apple, ash, beech, birch, box-elder, cherry, dogwood, elm, gooseberry, maple, plum, poplar, white oak, willow. This particular one was feeding on wild plum.

(Wormspit has photos of every stage of development from eggs through moth.)





With its nearly six inch (15cm) wingspan, Cecropia Moths are the largest moths native to North America. Like all Giant Silkmoths (Saturniinae),  Cecropia has a brief lifespan as an adult moth -- only a matter of days. It does not feed, but only finds a mate, breeds, lays eggs if a female and dies. (My previous post on these moths has more species details and links.)

(Photo credit for both photos belongs to Jo. She took the caterpillar shot on 7/13/09 and the moth was taken on 5/29/08.)

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Cecropia Moth Caterpillar (Hyalophora cecropia)

Wednesday Afternoon Walk: Caterpillar

I don't know what kind of construction/destruction my neighbor has in mind. No work has been done yet, but a bulldozer belonging to a local heavy equipment operator was parked alongside the road this afternoon.

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Wednesday Afternoon Walk: Caterpillar

Green Cloverworm Moth (Hypena scabra)

Green Cloverworm Moth (Hypena scabra)

While certainly not the most beautiful moth ever attracted to my porch light, the Green Cloverworm Moth is abundant, especially late in the season. On several warmer evenings in late fall, I saw dozens of these moths and only one or two specimens of other species.

Life Cycle (from Bugwood Wiki): Green cloverworms overwinter either as pupae or adults. Moths become active in the spring and lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves. Eggs hatch in less than a week and larvae may feed for four weeks. Larvae burrow into litter or soil and pupate. Four or more generations occur annually in Georgia (and other southern states).

BugGuide says: Adults fly from March to November, or all year in warmer regions, but are most common in late summer and fall.

Green Cloverworm Moths are found in fields, gardens, wood edges and waste places. Hosts plants include alfalfa, beans, clover, cowpea, soybean, strawberry, vetch, many common weeds, and other legumes. All sources agree that Green Cloverworms seldom occur in large enough numbers to reduce the yield of a crop materially.

While the basic pattern remains the same, the coloration of Green Cloverworm Moths can vary greatly. The Moth Photographers Group has photographs of several different specimens showing this color variation.

(Thanks to John Maxwell on BugGuide for this ID.)

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Green Cloverworm Moth (Hypena scabra)

Tomato Hornworm Bearing Braconid Wasp Parasites

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A Good Tobacco (Tomato) Hornworm

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The Tobacco (Tomato) Hornworm (Manduca sexta) shown above is covered with pupal cocoons of a Braconid wasp. The female wasp lays her eggs inside the body of the hornworm. When they hatch the wasp larvae eat the hornworm from the inside out. When the wasp larvae are ready to pupate into adults, they emerge from the hornworm's body and spin these silken cocoons. The Braconid wasps will soon emerge from these cocoons as adults. The hornworn may still be capable of limited movement, but it's innards have been consumed by the wasp larvae and it will soon die.

Hornworms found covered with wasp cocoon should not be killed, but allowed to live -- for just a little while longer -- so the Braconid wasps can complete their life cycle and then paraticize more hornworms.

I have found cocoon covered hornworms a couple of times in the past, but it has been several years. Friday evening I found four paraticized hornworms on one tomato plant. Conditions must be just right for a Braconid wasp population boom.

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Sources and additional information:
Braconid Wasps (Braconidae) on BugGuide
University of Florida
Clemson University
North Carolina State University
Manduca secta on Wikipedia

Tomato Hornworm Bearing Braconid Wasp Parasites

Tomato Hornworm -- Not!

This is the caterpillar I've always called a Tomato Hornworm, but it isn't. True, it is usually found munching on tomato plants, but it is actually a Tobacco Hornworm and is the larvae stage of the Carolina Sphinx moth (Manduca sexta). Host plants include all members of the Nightshade Family (Solanaceae) including potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco. In our garden, I haven't found these caterpillars to be all that picky about what they eat. Tomatoes do seem to be their preferred host, but we've also had them strip pepper plants and I often find them on our Datura (Jimpson Weed).

The primary identifying characteristics for the Tobacco Hornworm are the seven diagonal white lines edged with black and the dorsal horn which is orange, pink or red.

There is a Tomato Hornworm. It is the larvae of the Five-spotted Hawk Moth (Manduca quinquemaculata). Tomato Hornworms look very similar, but have eight V-shaped stripes and their dorsal horn is black.

Caterpillar Legs

All caterpillars have three pair of true legs under their thorax, first body segment behind the head. These legs are jointed, segmented and have little hooks on the end. The are usually used for grasping food. Most caterpillars also have five pairs of prolegs under their abdomen. The prolegs are not segmented, but are cylindrical. They are used for walking and clinging, as they have a set of microscopic hooks on the base (crochets). The last pair of prolegs on the anal abdominal segment are usually called claspers. So, most caterpillars are hexadecapodal because they have a total of 16 legs.

There are many non-hexadecapodal caterpillars, notably the inch-worm type cats, which have six true legs, but only 8, 6 or 4 prolegs. There are also caterpillars with no legs at all. And, there are larvae of some wasps and flies that look like caterpillars, but technically are not. They have more than 16 legs.

Tomato Hornworm -- Not!

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes)

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes) on dill out in the garden.


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Black Swallowtail Caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes)

Black-waved Flannel Moth (Megalopyge crispata)

So you think you're having a bad hair day?


Above is a Black-waved Flannel Moth caterpillar. These moths and their caterpillars are found throughout eastern North America in deciduous forests. The caterpillars of all members of this genus (Megalopyge) should not be handled because they can cause skin irritation or a sting.

A male Black-waved Flannel Moth

Compared to the female, the make is darker, more yellow and has the dark waves on his wings that give this species its common name.
As with many moth species, the male also has larger, fuller antennae than the female. The male uses his antennae to locate a female by "smelling" the pheromones she releases.



The female Black-waved Flannel Moth is whiter than the male and has more thread-like antennae.

Source: BugGuide

Black-waved Flannel Moth (Megalopyge crispata)

Walnut Caterpillar Moth caterpillar (Datana integerrima)

The little assassin bug nymph in the post below doesn't really stand a chance of having much of an impact on our population of Walnut Caterpillar Moth caterpillars (Datana integerrima). Every year about this time, the caterpillars strip a few branches on our black walnut trees, but they don't do any real damage to the trees, so I just let them eat.

The caterpillars start out tiny, reddish-brown and virtually hairless. As they eat the caterpillars grow rapidly, darken to black and get very hairy.

Photo of adult moth from BugGuide.



(This photo was taken about ten hours after the one above.)

Walnut Caterpillar Moth caterpillar (Datana integerrima)

Assassin Bug Nymph

An assassin bug nymph. Plant sucking bugs have straight beaks. Bug sucking bugs have curved beaks.

This little critter is not earning his keep. Those bare stems it's climbing around on should be covered with black walnut leaves, except the leaves on this branch have been stripped by Walnut Caterpillar Moth caterpillars (Datana integerrima).




Now the little assassin bug nymph is hard at work reducing the Walnut Caterpillar Moth caterpillar population.

Assassin Bug Nymph

Twig-Mimic Caterpillar

Had this caterpillar been on a brown twig instead of surrounded by green, I'd never have noticed it -- but, of course, that's the whole point.

(This is probably a Geometrid Moth caterpillar, but that's not much of a definitive ID since there are more than 1400 species in Family Geometridae in North America.)

Twig-Mimic Caterpillar

Trash Collector

Sticky Caterpillar (Synchlora sp.)

Caterpillars of some species of emerald moths have a sticky substance on their bodies and adorn themselves with bits of flowers for camouflage.

Image of adult emerald moth here.

Trash Collector