Can anyone tell me what kind of caterpiller this is that I found today all over my butterfly weed? I don't think its a monarch cat because I have seen these on this plant in the past and I don't remember that they looked like this. But I could be wrong - the old "faulty memory syndrome" lol!
Here's another picture.
Milkweed Tussock moth, great disguise huh? :)
I have had them here a few times but, not that often. I think they're cute.
That looks like the caterpillar of the Milkweed Tussock Moth (Euchaetes egle) http://bugguide.net/node/view/64607
Please add the species with your images to the BugFiles.
Common Nmae: Milkweed Tussock Moth
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Arctiidae
Genus: Euchaetes
Species: egle
Ken
they are very pretty
Thanks so much everyone! They kind of reminded me of monarch caterpillers in KISS outfits lol!
ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!! good one
Now I have another question.... someone from Texas told me that these cats are "asps" and can sting you. As far as I know we only have two types here in Tn. that do that - the saddleback caterpiller and the grey one which I think is called a hag. Does anyone know if these sting too?
Here's another few pic from today - I love these thangs!
one last picture I promise!
They aren't asps. My parents kept killing the plain yellow tussock cats that were falling out of their Sycamore trees because they were asps until I correctly ID'd them. lol Asps are weird and hairy but they look more like little toupee's, or Donald Trump's hair.
KK, I thought that was just your basic comb over on "The Donald".
So far, I have not seen *any* cats on my milkweed (new flutterby garden)... but I'm pretty sure I saw a monarch on the salvia yesterday... I'm going to check those milkweed plants again! :-)
Those are some *very* cool customers there!
