Thursday, October 22, 2009

Mystery Caterpillar


So for the last several weeks, this not-so-little guy has been doing his best to imitate bird poop while munching on our lime tree.

I'm letting him keep on munching because, after all, the tree can spare a few leaves, and one has to admire such a clever use of disguise techniques, and I'm curious. What kind of caterpillar is he and what sort of moth or butterfly will he become?

Anyone know?

3 comments:

  1. It really looks like it might be a smaller instar of one of these:

    http://bugguide.net/node/view/347/bgimage?from=0

    Some species of swallowtail, but not sure which one. You might want to page though the images and click one to get to the species. Failing that, you can send in your pic and someone will post an answer.

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  2. Thanks. I've posted an image--I'm not v. good at noticing all the details that go into identifying one sort of creature from another.

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  3. The folks at bug guide think it is Giant Swallowtail Butterfly, one adding that it is also called an Orange Dog.

    I'm going to keep an eye on it!

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