It seems simplistic, but googling what something looks like, in very basic terms -- in this case, "black spiny caterpillar" -- works amazingly well, most of the time.
It brings up the site What's this North American Caterpillar, which spiffily shows my caterpillar on the front page.
And how exciting that this scary goth individual will turn into a Mourning Cloak butterfly!
This bristly guy below was a little more difficult.
But I think he becomes one of my favorites, a Question Mark butterfly.
I wasn't tempted in the least to touch either one of them!
Visit Wayne to see his spiny caterpillar siting too.
Great photos. Thanks for the link to the caterpillar site. I'm sure I'll be using it in the future. Fascinating.
ReplyDeletewe have one here that makes your finger numb when you touch it.
ReplyDeleteNCMW, I love the way they are categorized. (hmm, caterpillar categories, I like that phrase!) It's a lot easier than BugGuide, in this case.
ReplyDeleteKarl, I hope you didn't learn that from personal experience! :)
I wouldn't be tempted either.. :0
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your internet getting zapped but hope you got some nice rain for the garden. BTW, how is it going?
years ago we had the ugliest hatch of spiny caterpillars in our globe willow tree (*our late globe willow tree)
ReplyDeleteThe hubby hopped up and thought he wouold get his trusty spray out -- when I noticed a mama robin carrying one away in her beak. Soon there were quite a few robins taking their catch back to the nests. We left them to do their work - and they pretty much cleaned them up. I have no idea what kind of caterpillars they were. Ugly was sufficient.
Thanks for the cool links! I love reading about bugs. That second caterpillar looks like a sponge for dishes!
ReplyDeleteI love these photos.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for the cool links!
my little brother wanted to pick a caterpillar up and put it in his pocket and my mother freaked out when he was crying because he couldn't feel his whole arm. I love caterpillars :)
Cheers,
Arielle