About 1.5 cm long.
What In Sam Hill?
This appears to be the remnants of a hairy caterpillar, such as in the family Erebidae or Lymantriidae. If you still have it, pick it up and see whether it feels light or heavy for its size. If it feels heavy (and especially if you can sense that there might be something inside it when you shake it gently), it might be a pupa inside a cocoon - some caterpillars incorporate their body hairs into their cocoon when they spin it. If on the other hand it is just a dead caterpillar, you should be able to find a head capsule somewhere on it.
Thank you I will look again but I didn't see a head capsule when I first looked.
I see now that this cocoon is developed from this caterpillar. There are now ten of them on the outside walls of my house. I wonder what it will turn into. I also wonder if the hairs are the spines and if they contain the venom from the caterpiller in order to protect the cocoon from predators.
A gorgeous caterpillar that I am unable to identify. My hunch is that it may be in the subfamily Arctiinae of the family Erebidae.
Thank you. Your hunches are the best.
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