Can anyone tell me what kind of butterfly or moth I have in a cacoon?
All summer (2006) I kept looking at my Tecoma stans vine as it was being eaten by something. One day my little girl found it. Here is a sort of fuzzy photo of the catepillar that was munching away. Well we brought it in and put it into a net hanger we made. It muched away until in had enough and spun a cacoon. All winter we have been wondering what will be hatching. Is it a beautiful butterfly or a moth??? Does anyone know what this plant plays host to? If it helps we live on Vancouver Island Canada.
Bea
Can anyone id this catterpillar
woops here is the photo
Looks like one of the tiger moths...photo is a bit too fuzzy to tell though.
~ Cat
Thanks cat..... I wonder when it will emerge, does it know I want it to be spring:)
thanks again
Bea
could be an io moth. Don't touch it!
hmmmm...looks more fuzzy than spiny...not an IO moth - unless the fuzziness is because the photo is out of focus :o)
~ Cat
tropicalkaren.... forgive me I don't know what io stands for.
Cat....
The photo is out of focus but it was fuzzy.. We did handle it several times when cleaning it's net house. no problems with it. Are you thinking if it was an io it would sting? It is still in it's cacoon and I guess it will hatch out someday soon as Spring is almost here. I will get another photo of it when does hatch. My little girl is hoping it is a butterfly:) We will have to pretend if it isn't.
Bea
Reality is always better Bea...Looks like it might actually be a moth. Your little one will see plenty of butterflies very soon though.,,,it is facinating business! My kids love the buterfly garden, especially my 8 yr old (Ben). There are many butterflies you can host in your garden by checking all the species in your area and aquiring their larval plant now.
Do you have Milkweed growing there in Summer? If not many of us have lots of seed and if you sow now, you will be ready when the Monarchs return to Canada.
You can peruse the http://www.bugguide.net site to find your caterpillar, since you actually saw it. The pic is a bit blurry, but I will also look fo some posibilities and let you know.
Deb
Did it have little daggers in it? http://bugguide.net/node/view/75453
(Karen, I thought Io too at first glance)
Here's a couple others it could be:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6380
http://bugguide.net/node/view/76182
And Bea~ Here is another place you can look through with hundreds of caterpillar drawings>
http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/plates.htm
Deb
That first one is cute Deb.
wow thanks Deb for all the great links. I am sure to find it in there. When it decides to present itself I will post a photo of it. I just hope it has stored well over the winter. They look so lifeless so it sure makes you wonder if anyone is home inside there:) It hasn't changed color at all so I assuming it is fine and will evently appear one day.
Thanks again
Bea