Crazy Legs, but Those Aren't Legs

I came across this guy in my garden last June.


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My insect ID app was stumped. I just thought of him as "Crazy Legs."

Just recently, somebody on the "All Bugs Go To Kevin" Facebook page posted the same creature, and that's how I got an ID: it's a Crowned Slug caterpillar.

And those crazy legs aren't legs. They are stinging hairs. I'm glad I didn't try to pick him up and find that out the hard way.

He has probably already turned into the moth he was destined to be, but I will always think of him as Crazy Legs.

Here's a side view:



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I have been getting my new computer up and running, with all my huge stock of images, documents, and conveniences. It's a process. I hope to be more productive once I don't have to wrestle with a computer that operates in GEOLOGICAL TIME.

Grapeleaf Skeletonizer Caterpillar

While working in my tomato garden last September, I came across this very small caterpillar.


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That's my thumb, for scale.

It took me a while to ID this tiny thing. I believe it will grow up to be a Grapeleaf Skeletonizer moth.

Clearwing Things

This is a Snowberry Clearwing caterpillar hanging out by my garden shed.


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It will turn into a moth that hovers over the flowers where it's drinking nectar.

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This is a rather ragged Hummingbird Clearwing moth hanging out on my sunflower.


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You can tell it from a Snowberry Clearwing by its pale legs.

The caterpillar can be distinguished from the Snowberry Clearwing caterpillar by the stripe running lengthwise on its body, and its blue (rather than black) tail.

Cross-Striped Cabbageworm

This little guy* was eating holes in the mustard spinach out in my garden, earlier this summer.


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It will turn into a not-very-interesting moth.

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*Term used generically. "It is almost impossible to determine whether most caterpillars are male or female. Caterpillars are the juvenile life stage of butterflies and moths — they don't mate or reproduce. While most are genetically either male or female, their reproductive organs don't develop until they're pupae, transforming into adults." Source: https://sciencing.com/determine-caterpillar-male-female-5911369.html

Red Admiral Caterpillar

Several years ago I learned what Three-Seeded Mercury looks like. But only recently I learned that it is a member of the Nettle family and thus a host plant for Red Admiral caterpillars. [7/5/2023 update: I was wrong about that. Three-Seeded Mercury is a member of the Spurge family according to every internet source I can now find. I must have dreamed the source that talked about Nettle. So why was that caterpillar so interested in the Three-Seeded Mercury, I wonder?]


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Here are some pics of a grown-up Red Admiral that found something it liked on the outside of my hummingbird feeder.


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White-Lined Sphinx Caterpillar

I found this big plump fellow in my weedy Tithonia patch.


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It will grow up to be a White-Lined Sphinx moth.

Little Jerks of Ainsworth

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Here's one of the little jerks who've been nibbling on my tomatoes all summer: a Tomato Fruitworm.

They grow up to be really boring moths.

Nonexistent Caterpillars

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I found these two caterpillars munching on some leaves in my field, in blissful ignorance of the fact that they don't exist, according to my two guide books and everything I could find online.

They are blue in color, with black and yellow speckles, smooth, lacking hair, horns, or other protuberances.

I suppose they will eventually become (or not become) some nonexistent butterfly or moth.

Yellow Bear Caterpillar

Here's a Yellow Bear on a pokeweed leaf in my back yard.


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It will grow up to be a Virginia Tiger moth.

And on this warm(?) fuzzy note, I am going to take an Internet break for a week or so.

Clymene Moth Caterpillar

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I found this caterpillar on a clover plant in my field. After some on-line searching, I believe it's the larva of the Clymene moth. I don't remember ever seeing this moth in person, and you'd think I'd remember such a striking creature.

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

Found, on a branch of wild parsnip along Ainsworth Road, a Black Swallowtail caterpillar.


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Meanwhile, over in the tall grass …


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NOT SAFE FOR WORK

Get a room, you two!

Unidentified Caterpillar (Random Pointless Photo)

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This thing looks a bit like a tobacco hornworm that washed when it should have dry-cleaned, but it's also got those four horns or fleshy filaments near its head that I can't find in any other pictures of tobacco hornworms. I certainly can't find it in my caterpillar book. I give up.

Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Rose Mallow

I found this hibiscus-looking thing out in my field.


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In fact, its botanical name is Hibiscus palustris. It is a native wildflower.

Each flower blooms only for a day, I believe. This one has several buds awaiting their turn.



This plant is about three feet high.



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In other wildflowers news, the swamp milkweed that last year hosted a Monarch caterpillar this year has four. Here's two of them.

Larvae of Ainsworth: Cecropia Moth Caterpillar

Found this thing when I was pruning the privet hedge. The red knobs are at its front end.


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It will grow up to be a large night-flying moth of a kind I think I have seen once or twice in my life.



While researching this critter, I came across this photo-essay by someone who raised some Cecropia caterpillars to maturity.

Larvae of Ainsworth: Ctenucha Virginica

Found this critter out in my field:


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After checking with an on-line caterpillar identification tool, I believe it's going to grow up to be a Virginia Ctenucha.

Giant Leopard Moth Caterpillar

This morning I rescued a big caterpillar out of the dogs' wading pool.


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I had a hard time identifying it because at first I couldn't see the red rings around its body, between the rows of bristles. Once it relaxed and started stretching out onto the grass, I saw the red bands.



So I believe it is a Giant Leopard Moth larva.

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Also, I have a joke-ruining update to the donkey picture.

Milkweed Tussock Moth Larvae of Ainsworth

I was checking a milkweed for Monarch larvae. Found these guys instead.


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They are going to grow up to be Milkweed Tussock Moths.

Visiting the Swamp Milkweed (Random Pointless Photos)

Yesterday I noticed that this swamp milkweed near my garden had a couple of visitors. Up on the blossoms, this guy:


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I think that's an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, but I'm no butterfly expert.


And down on the leaves, this caterpillar:



… which I think is someday going to be a Monarch butterfly.


Aside from being tasty, the swamp milkweed blossoms are just so darn pretty.