Found this guy on my Salix 'Hakuro nishiki' the other morning when watering. Was hoping for a better picture but the other views were too blurry. He "hides" by the base of the plant during the day and climbs up in the early evening and feeds on the foliage. About 2-2.5" long - husband thinks it's a type of Tussock Moth but can't find anything that looks similar - any ideas?
I'd love to see more pictures... I think your husband's right. Maybe genus Orgyia? There are two good possibilities, O. detrita and O. antiqua. The little spots on the side where the hairs protrude, do they look orange to you?
"The sides of the body are gray and supraspiracular warts are orange; the black middorsal stripe is flanked by yellow spots on A4-A7" - Wagner, p.450 from the book "Caterpillars of Eastern North America".
Your caterpillar has spots on those abdominal sections - anyway, that's an amazing caterpillar!
Here is a link to Tussock Moth caterpillars.
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=tussock+moth
Thanks for the link - unfortunately I had already looked at all those photos - some were close but no cigar :)
claypa, it IS an amazing caterpillar and would really love to identify it. Unfortunately we were out of town for several days and now I can't find him. I had taken some great close ups but because they were taken so late in the day and I had turned off the flash, they all came out fuzzy :( The spots on the side are really quite red, not orange. In the morning, when this photo was taken, he could crawl back down to the base of the plant and 'hang' there with its head shown on the bottom of the photo. Edited the photo below - the arrow points to the head. Don't know how to describe it, but the two brown 'spots' look like feathery fans? I wasn't brave enough to pick him up to get better photos, was stung by a Saddleback earlier this summer and didn't care to experience that again :(
Does anyone of another site where I could post the picture for ID?
Sure, there's bug guide.net and 'what's that bug'. Maybe someone at a nearby ag school or county extension office.
I wouldn't be surprised if some tussock moth caterpillars are poisonous, or at least irritating. There's some debate about that though. It may depend what they're eating.
edit - note to self, Hypocrisias is similar
This message was edited Jul 3, 2009 12:45 PM
claypa, thanks for the info on 'what's that bug'. I hadn't found that site in my search - just spent an hour looking at every image - unfortunately still no ID. I have emailed them hoping for an ID and will be back to post if I get one.
Debbie
