Caterpillars

At the end of September, I noticed some large banded and spotted caterpillars finishing off the last of the parsley in the garden.

There were about five caterpillars.

They crawled up and down the stems denuding the plants of any leaves. When the y got the end of a stalk they would get confused and then turn around and start down again.




I thought that these might be Monarch Butterfly caterpillars, but a search at this site revealed that these are likely to be the second instar or moult of the caterpillar stage of Black Swallowtail caterpillars. The pictures match and the wikipedia article (Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes) even mentions that they like to eat plants from the carrot family like dill and parsley.

Eastern tent caperpillar on the Shellpot Creek

As part of the continuing exploration of the wildlife refuge that is my backyard I have tried to take good pictures (with my new camera) of the interesting things that inhabit the area. As long as they are not moving too fast I can usually run inside to get the camera and shoot it. This means I can get more slow bugs than fast mammals and birds but I am working on it.

This colorful fuzzy caterpillar seems to be an Eastern Tent Caterpillar as far as I can tell from the web. The Malacosoma americanum is a pest in the east and they are known to defoliate trees like cherry, apple and crab apple. I guess I should have squished it when I saw it. It was only one. I promise to take a picture of the tent and mass if we get one. These guys turn into moths.