One of the realities of not using pesticides in the garden is unexpected visitors. Given the abundant rains over the winter, we have had an explosion of flora (as witnessed in the wildflower entries) and the juicy, tempting blossoms have attracted an army of caterpillars. I love caterpillars among the wildflowers, but I hold my breath when I spot them on a plant I have nurtured from seed to seedling. These little critters are the ones who have found their way into the garden.
I am finding that identifying the little critters is harder than I thought, but the one just above I think is a Queen caterpillar. I know it looks like a Monarch, but the yellow spots lead me to believe it is a Queen.
So far I have not spotted this homely fellow, which ventured into the herb garden last year:
Here is the modest guy in another pose:
Judging by the fact that this one and two of his siblings were decimating a rue plant (ah, bitter rue)--a favorite food of the Giant Swallowtail, I tagged this one as, in fact, the Giant Swallowtail. The Audubon Guide's description of this caterpillar is telling: "mature caterpillar...resembling a large bird dropping." Indeed!
4 comments:
They are so lucky to have found your garden.
GREAT photos!
You're right, caterpillars are hard to ID. My favorite butterfly book also has caterpillar pictures for most species; Butterflies of North America by Jim P. Brock & Kenn Kaufman.
Moth caterpillars are way harder because there are thousands of species. If you find out what the fuzzy cats are, I'd like to know. We've had all kinds of fuzzies on all kinds of plants, some I've never seen eaten before.
The second picture is a type of sphinx or hawk moth caterpillar. Hawk moths are way cool. They have long tongues and hover over flowers to nectar.
I think the yellow, black & white caterpillar is a black swallowtail. Looks like it's on a dill or fennel? which are host plants for the swallowtail. Queens are milkweed butterflies.
I'm glad you showed pictures of the giant swallowtail cats. I've never seen one. I'm going out & check my Hercules Club to see if I have any.
We've had black swallowtail cats on wild carrot & dill, and gulf frittilary cats on passion vine.
I KNEW you could help! Thanks!
I look forward to your posts--it feels like sharing a neighbor's view.
Today I saw a giant swallowtail laying eggs on the Hercules Club. Hoping I'll find some cats in a couple of weeks.
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