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Crawlies of our garden |
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Larval lifeforms
The ones that most fascinate my boys - the weirder-looking the better.
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This little fella was as bright white as I've ever seen a caterpillar (must
not taste too good - lousy camouflage!). It was racing around our veggie garden
one day, but didn't find anything tasty, so it decided to leave. It may be an albino yellow woolly
bear moth larva.
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This one is even hairier, and not quite as white. While the one above looks kinda
cute, this one looks fearsome!
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When I found a zillion of these guys decimating my Lysimachia punctata,
I had hopes of benevolently sustaining an interesting butterfly or moth
population. Turns out I most likely had a bunch of sawfly larvae on my hand.
Still, with their blue-gray coloration they were quite the fascinating creatures.
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Sawfly larvae sure are a destructive bunch! This time it was the
hardy hibiscus that was skeletonized, by who other than young'ns of the hibiscus
sawfly (Atomacera decepta).
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Striking velvety caterpillar with bold coloration, most likely a yellow-striped
armyworm (Spodoptera ornithogalli), which grows into a not quite so bold-colored
moth.
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Young'n of the black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes). Although the adult
would be considered more beautiful (judge for yourself at my butterfly
page), baby is kinda handsome in its own way.
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Munching on milkweed (in this case, swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata) just
like it should, this was our first monarch caterpillar sighting of 2009, on
August 1st. The little fella is playing a game of peek-a-boo!
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Wow dude! Nice do! Found this one on a milkweed plant, and sure enough, it's
the caterpillar of the milkweed tussock moth (Euchaetes egle). From
what I've read, it's common to find plants just crawling with these caterpillars,
I only saw the one. |
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Found this one crawling on a devils-bit scabious (succisa pratensis). It's a
fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea),
probably in its last travels before pupation, after growing to its largest
caterpillar form inside a silk web shared with its many siblings.
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Since our tomatoes are mostly spared destruction by tomato hornworms (Manduca
sexta), I actually find the sporadic sightings quite interesting. Pardon
the picture of its back end - but the horn is really its most photogenic part.
The adult is a greyish-whitish moth, not nearly as exotic-looking as its
babies.
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Nifty small saddleback caterpillar (Acharia stimulea), aspiring to grow
up to be a smallish black moth one day.
It was probably a hitchhiker on a tree we purchased at a nearby nursery.
Supposedly its sting packs a punch - I opted not to put it to the test.
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We see these little stick structures all around, but until recently didn't
know who was responsible for them. Another type of moth, it turns out: bagworm
moths (family psychidae) build these surprisingly tough dwellings out
of silk and plant debris. The larvae live there for a long time, emerging only
to eat.
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Multi-legged ones
Centipedes and millipedes, that is. I usually encounter these ground-dwelling
critters while digging around in my soil, and seldom have a camera to operate
with my grimy hands - so not so many photos. But here are a few, anyway:
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I'm amazed - I found this guy (a soil centipede) sneaking through my clay soil,
and relocated him to a rock to shoot his picture. He's perfectly clean - my
dirt doesn't stick to him. Why don't my kids have that useful property?
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Fewer segments and legs on this one, but just as shiny. This stone
centipede, in the lithobiomorpha order, was also crawling around in
our soil.
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Even more legs - although I won't vouch for a thousand. Some kind of
millipede, anyway.
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Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Polina | Feb 25, 2006 | WOW ! very informative ...and i like those pics of ur nephew , so cute !! can see that u put a lot of effort in it so
KEEP IT UP ! |
| Ashley | Sep 03, 2007 | I love the pictures of the caterpillars (destructive as they might be). Some of them are really beautiful. And beware the stone centipedes. They can deliver a nasty bite. My dad found this out the hard way. I narrowly missed a painful bite to a bare foot just recently. |
| Mich (pronounced: Meesh) | Jul 20, 2008 | I love insects and gardening. I was looking to ID a caterpillar (of the white wooly kind)that was munching kohlrabi leaves in my garden. Alas, my insect books showed me nothing conclusive, and in my computer search I came across your site. Beautiful photos! Fun and interesting commentary. Your respect and curiosity about these diverse creatures comes through. Insects (and arachnids) are amazingly wonderful. |
| Paul Brubacher | Nov 24, 2008 | You have an interesting web site. Thank you for sharing.
I've seen a skinny white worm that looked like a thread. Any idea what this was?
Some kind of nematode? |
| fellow animal lover | Feb 28, 2009 | Beautiful photos! Love the little stories with them :)
I have recently come across a green caterpillar with tiny black dots along its body...I found it in some lettuce.
Any ideas on what it might be? |
| Alice in wonderland | Mar 02, 2009 | Don't you find them a bit gross when their in a group? can you help me with my project? I have to find facts about the Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar and I can't find much information about them.
I'd only do the same as you - search online for information sites. Good luck! |
| cari | Aug 07, 2009 | I've also had the bluish,white,gray sawfly larvae decimate my yellow loosestrife for several years - do you have any suggestions for how to reduce or eliminate them? I like the lysimachia punctata but it's very short lived once these larvae get to them. It was all of two days this year and I've got nothing but skeletal remains. (Cdwalquist@aol.com) |
| gclef | Aug 10, 2009 | I think I have an army worm on my celosia flowers. Should I be worried?
Just pick any caterpillars you find off; insecticidal soap should work OK too. |
| Rocky | May 25, 2010 | A great piece of information for everyone who is fond of the colors of nature. I will refer this site to the children of my school.
Thanks... |
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Last modified:
February 10, 2010
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