Saturday, August 18, 2012

Caterpillars on my Pagoda Plants

This is one of the 6 Pagoda plants I have around the yard. The Swallowtail butterflies love them.

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This is one of the  caterpillars I found. You can see where it has been munching on the leaves.

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The one above must be a bit younger than the one below……... It appears almost white with black markings.

This one looks a bit more like a pale yellow, but both were on Pagoda Plants.

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I haven’t been able to identify it other than a possible Tussock Moth? Leave a comment if you know what it is.

Looks like there might be two black tufts front and rear.

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I didn’t realize how long the hairs are until I saw the picture. It has a pretty pattern on it’s back.

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And a cute little black face.

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I did not handle this one. I’ve been reading about fuzzy caterpillars and some of them can cause a rash or sting, so I’ll play it safe until I learn just what it is.

6 comments:

  1. Don't know what it is except beautiful. I suppose there's a reason to be hairy like that and scare other critters off.

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  2. Tussock was my first thought too.

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  3. I don't know what it is either, but it's very striking. I had heard that fuzzy caterpillars can sting, so I think you're wise not to handle it. It reminds me of the seed pod on grass, and that may be a form of camouflage. Love that Pagoda plant, by the way.

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  4. It could be a baby white wooly bear/wooly worm. Just a suggestion. I have seen a few of these around the wood piles near my house..but not near plants. I actually just took a pic o one yesterday in fact . Just a suggestion ..

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  5. Did anyone figure it out

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  6. Your pictures are of Hyphantria Cunae, the Fall Webworm. The caterpillar stage varies widely in coloration.

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