Misc. caterpillars and larvae - group #3
These are Camouflage Loopers. These tiny caterpillars adorn their bodies with dried flower petals, which they attach with silk. It is an excellent disguise. I never would have noticed these caterpillars if I wasn't looking for them. Camouflage Loopers turn into beautiful green Wavy-lined Emerald moths.
A cluster of Walnut Caterpillar moths (Datana integerrima). These caterpillars are gregarious, feeding in large groups to discourage predators. This group was photographed at Buck Creek State Park, near Springfield.
These are also Walnut Caterpillar moths. (Younger individuals are red instead of black.) Photographed at Caesar Creek on July 9, 2016.
Blackberry Looper, feeding on a Black-eyed Susan flower. These tiny caterpillars, like the Camouflage Loopers above, turn into small green moths.
This is the larval case of an Evergreen Bagworm moth. The cases are a common sight on tree branches and shrubs. Despite their common name, Evergreen Bagworm larvae will attach their cases to a wide variety of plants (not just evergreens). The larva in the photo at left had affixed its case to a tallgrass stem on the Cox Arboretum prairie.
This is neither a butterfly nor a moth caterpillar. This is the larva of the Elm Sawfly. Many sawfly wasp larvae resemble butterfly and moth caterpillars.
This is a Yellow-necked Caterpillar, another moth in the Datana genus. These caterpillars commonly feed in large groups like their cousins above.
The individual at left is another wasp larva, Sphacophilus apios. This apparently rare species feeds on Orbexilum onobrychis (commonly known as scurf pea or French-grass). I find many of these larvae in a Greene County remnant prairie, while hunting for Coppery Orbexilum moths. At first, I thought these wasp larvae might be the rare, polka-dot Schinia caterpillars, like the ones that were recently discovered in Adams County, Ohio. No such luck ... but I wonder if the Schinia moth caterpillars might mimic these Sphacophilus apios larvae? Both species are scurf pea specialists. Something to ponder.