It's larva season! And with it comes the potential of a new hobby that I sooo don't need. Darn. I'd love to know what these little guys plan on becoming, but after perusing all of Bugguide.net's caterpillar images I'm still clueless. Are these even caterpillars? The striped fellow above sat on a plum leaf, surrounded by bits of webbing.
This one chilled out on a hybridized Columbine. His orange head (eyes?) contrast so nicely with his pinstripes!
Grub? Caterpillar? Larvae? Hmmm. Found in all the ivy I was trying to remove this weekend, so not sure if I like the company he keeps.
Anyone able to steer me in the right direction?
Maybe whatsthatbug.com? Maybe a book on California butterflies? (I've got a couple, and will take a look.)
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I'm not much help on this front. Although the second photo, the one with orange head and stripy body, looks like a species of Armyworm to me.
ReplyDeleteDag nabbit. You would think that butterfly field guides would show caterpillars... But they don't.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to post your photos over at Flickr and share them with one of the "ID please" groups.
Thanks for your suggestions, guys! I'll be totally honest here- I'd love to know who they are, but a combination of being too busy and too impatient has led me to end my research for now. However, at the rate I'm going, I'll run out of hobbies by the time I'm old, so maybe it's just as well to let bug ID hang in the shadows for now!
ReplyDeleteWell, for me, "white caterpillar" or "yellow and brown striped caterpillar" is about as scientific as I get. I guess people gravitate towards different things. I've learned a lot of plants over the years, but some people might just say "pretty white flower" instead of, say, "romneya." But sometimes those are the same people who can ID a bird in flight hundreds of feet away. I'm not one of them.
ReplyDelete