It is nearly four inches long when mature. The larva feeds on many trees including alder, cherry, walnut, hickory, oak, sweet gum, birch, butternut, beech, willow, chestnut, pecan, hazelnut, and persimmon.
The cocoon is usually spun on the ground among leaf litter so it is difficult to find in the winter. The moth stage is one of our most spectacular in North America. The wings are a very pale green with maroon, pink, or yellow margins.
Each wing has a transparent eyespot surrounded by a ring of maroon or black. The hindwings are drawn out into long, graceful sweeping tails. The wingspan is four to six inches. This caterpillar is the larva of the Promethea Moth, also known as the Silk Moth. Larvae are smooth and pale green with a slight bluish cast. There are four prominent red-orange spikes near the head and one yellow spike near the rear.
Four smaller black or blue spots are also present on each body segment. The head has two facial spots. Larvae feed on many plants including spicebush, cherry, sassafras, tuliptree, willow, poplar, sweetgum, ash, apple, pear, lilac, wild plum, birch, button bush, basswood, maple, and chokeberry. The larval period is 42 to 54 days. A compact cocoon in which the larva pupates and overwinters is wrapped inside a rolled up leaf attached to the host plant by a silken stalk.
In June or July, the adult moth emerges with a wingspan of three to four inches. The females are larger and more brightly colored than the male moths.
The female is bright red to dark brown with a tan border on both wings. The male is dark brown to black with a tan border on both wings. Both have a spot in each forewing near the margin. This moth was once considered for development of the American silk industry. The tobacco hornworm, also known as the Carolina Sphinx Moth larva, has seven diagonal white stripes on each side of the body and a curved red horn at the rear.
The tomato hornworm, also known as the Five Spotted Hawk Moth larva, has eight curved white stripes on each side of the body and a straight black horn at the rear.
Both caterpillars are green, occasionally with a brown or black tinge, and will reach a length of four inches. Food plants of both larvae include tobacco, tomato, eggplant, pepper, potato, and related weeds. The larval period ranges from 28 to 36 days, after which the larva burrows into the soil three to four inches deep to pupate and overwinter. In May or June, the adult emerges. These sphinx moths are powerful fliers, and are sometimes called hawk moths or hummingbird moths because they hover while feeding on flowers.
Moths are dark gray, sometimes mottled with black and light gray. Two zigzag, black lines extend across the hindwings with a black band near the border. There are five pairs of yellow spots on each side of the abdomen. The wingspan is four to five inches.
A braconid wasp parasite is an important natural enemy. The white cocoons of this parasite are commonly seen attached to the larvae. The catalpaworm, also known as the Catalpa Sphinx Moth larva, occurs in two color forms.
It may be a velvety black to dark green with black stripes, or it may be yellow or tan with irregular black stripes on the sides. There is a black horn at the rear. The larvae feed on catalpa tree leaves and are capable of completely defoliating a tree.
And once the bits dry off, they take fresh ones and hide themselves again. Since caterpillars grow quickly and much before turning into pupas, they need to shed their skin as it becomes too small for their bodies the same way snakes do. A caterpillar usually sheds its skin around four or more times in its short lifespan.
Some caterpillars will look much different than what they initially looked before shedding with some growing hair, bristles and even changing colors.
These cute creatures are really ravenous! Most caterpillars eat the leaves of the plant where its parent butterfly laid its eggs and which flowers it takes food from.
For example, black swallowtails and monarch butterflies usually eat parsley and common rue so their caterpillars will also eat from these plants.
Some caterpillars can be poisonous due to the toxicity it gets from the food it eats. These poisonous types of caterpillar can usually be identified by their bright colors. It seems likely this is to limit predation with one colour less easily seen than the other.
The only time most caterpillars stop eating is prior to changing their skin or during the time leading up to pupation when their bodies have already begun the remarkable metamorphosis from caterpillar to moth or butterfly. However, there are also caterpillars that over-winter, including several species of butterfly, that are able to go months without feeding.
The time it takes for a caterpillar to pupate varies widely according to species. Many caterpillars are fully grown and ready to pupate within a few weeks of hatching from an egg, such as the Painted Lady Vanessa cardui butterfly above left that only takes 4 weeks.
Others will over-winter in readiness to complete their growth and pupate the following spring such as the Fox Moth Macrothylacia rubi above right which remains a caterpillar for 11 months of the year from June to April.
However, some species such as the caterpillars of the Goat Moth Cossus cossus may remain in the larval stage, inside a tree trunk, for up to five years. Pupation refers to the stage when a caterpillar stops growing and undergoes a rapid and remarkable physical transformation into a moth or butterfly.
The caterpillars of some moth species spin an additional outer protective case known as a cocoon around them before forming a pupa inside. These cocoons are often spun using a mesh of spun silk and hairs from its own body.
Many of these spun cocoons are rather flimsy and do not appear to offer much additional protection but their hairs may still prevent some parasites from reaching and penetrating the pupa and laying their eggs inside. However, some cocoons are of such a solid impenetrable construction that it has been suggested that some species may have developed a body acid to burn their way out. These pupae may be formed in a wide variety of places including amongst leaf litter, in the soil, inside the stems of plants, on the trunks of trees and even on man made structures such as walls of houses.
This refers to the golden brown colour of some pupae. Adults in summer generations live from two to five weeks. Each year, the final generation of Monarchs, which emerges in late summer and early fall, has an additional job: to migrate to their overwintering grounds, either in central Mexico for eastern Monarchs or in California for western Monarchs.
Here they survive the long winter until conditions in the United States allow them to return to reproduce. These adults can live up to eight or nine months. Male and female Monarchs can be distinguished easily. Males have a black spot see photo on a vein on each hind wing that is not present on the female.
These spots are made of specialized scales which produce a chemical used during courtship in many species of butterflies and moths, although such a chemical does not seem to be important in Monarch courtship.
The ends of the abdomens are also different in males and females, and females often look darker than males and have wider veins on their wings. No growth occurs in the adult stage, but Monarchs need to obtain nourishment to maintain their body and fuel it for flight.
Monarchs are not very picky about the source of their nectar, and will visit many different flowers.
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