CLOSED: Caterpillar and some type of cocoon or pod.

Found this guy in potted canna today. He had very shiny hairs and red bands between the rows of hairs.

Here is the suspect with my fat little finger for size comparison.

I found two of these on the inside of my greenhouse and there is another on the outside. I am not sure if it is some sort of cocoon, baby sack or dinner for a spider. We do have a lot of different spiders here. I am enjoying the orb weavers. ;)

It could be this one, Giant Leopard Moth http://bugguide.net/node/view/493


Edit- I should put the link to Dave's in...duh...http://davesgarden.com/bf/go/587/

That's a real neat moth!

This message was edited Oct 6, 2006 9:23 PM

? Well, you can type it lol

That picture with the flower in the foreground is a real cool one. Wish I could take pictures like that.

Hey Clay! I think you might be right! The only thing I question is the link. This guy was longer than my index finger which puts it at 3+.

Your link works fine too. :)

Hydrangea, it's not me! LOL It's the camera. But thank you

The caterpillar is a wooly bear. The eggs sacs are the kind that the black and yellow (or is that yellow and black?) argiope make. I love those girls...

Wooly bears aren't ringed like this caterpillar. The red bands between the rings of spines are diagnostic for leopard moths

I thought they were much more pronounced than this....

You can see it when they curl up. Badseed mentioned the red bands, so I figured she saw them. Plus it's so shiny black... I dunno, I could be wrong, stranger things have happened.

LOL I'm sure not ready to claim any kind of "victory" myself! Guess I'll go off and look around....

claypa - I found some whose stripes weren't prominent and could only be seen when curled, so I defer to your wisdom and go away wiser myself! I always called them wooly bears too! Here's a good article on them:
http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek020608.html

I've seen these moths lots of times but I never knew they were blue and yellow on their bodies...amazing. Badseed would find a real stylie moth!
http://bugguide.net/node/view/41367/bgimage

But only if it's a girl! Gotta look good for the guys, I guess. I think the white with black spots are attractive enough.