(edited 9/16/09 to fix the link to Toronto Gardens)

The mystery caterpillar is now identified – I think. Two frequent visitors sent me on a merry chase which ended happily at bugguide.net

Helen at Toronto Gardens and sharkbytes at My Quality Day definitely deserve a little link love for their help.

Helen was too close – I almost didn’t check any further. The Pearly Wood Nymph – Eudryas unio – is a spitting image to what I found after digging a bit deeper.

sharkbytes was a bit further off. The Eight Spotted Forester moth caterpillar – Alypia octomaculata – she suggested was a near miss.

Beautiful Wood-Nymph caterpillar – Eudryas grata

What made me decide it was neither of the suggested species?

I’ll start with the runner up. Helen’s pick of the Pearly Wood Nymph has two differences I could make out. The Pearly Wood Nymph has a blue/white thoracic shield and 2 dots on the prolegs. As you can see in the image this one has the orange thoracic shield and single dot on the prolegs. Those differences leads me to believe this is a Beautiful Wood-Nymph caterpillar.

sharkbytes suggestion gets a bronze medal for her efforts. Her pick forgot to shave though. There are no hairs on the caterpillar I photographed but it’s easy to see how she made the pick. After browsing through countless thumbnails it’s not hard to latch on to something that looks so close. I don’t ‘borrow’ images so use the link to check out her pick, Eight Spotted Forester – Alypia octomaculata at bugguide.net

A big thanks to all who went looking for an answer to yesterday’s conundrum. It really bugs me when I can’t ID something so distinctive.

Monarch butterfly caterpillars are easy to identify. It’s probably the best known and most photographed caterpillar around.

Hungry Hungry Caterpillar

click for larger size

The Conundrum:
My problem seems to be that no one has posted one like this before. I’ve looked through hundreds of thumbnails and haven’t come across it yet.

click for background image sized 1024 x 768

Whatever it is, it’s a real looker. In both a pretty and a disturbing kind of way. Looking at the back end you can say ‘yep, that’s the rear’ but when you get to the head I bet you do a double take. At least I did since to me it looks like the caterpillar is excreting a Ladybug.

click for wallpaper sized image

I know there’s a reason for the fancy makeup. Mother Nature wouldn’t stick a Ladybug’s rear end on this caterpillar’s face just for giggles.

If you happen to know the identity of this caterpillar please let me know. I’ve come to the point where I give up trying on-line. The next step is to buy a field guide and hope. …and I’m not about to spend money on this clown.

Excuse me but corrections are required. I was a bit hasty in identifying the models. I confused one lady for another and got the wrong sulfur even if I was close. Randy (the butterfly guy) was kind enough to correct and leave links to his photographs in a comment. I think they need to be here or all to see.

The Painted lady is actually an American Lady. The “Pink-edged Sulphur” is actually the much more common Orange Sulphur displaying some pink see my pages on these at
Orange Sulfur
Pink-edged Sulfur
pink-edged need native blueberries for a host plant.
The ladies are at
American Lady
Painted Lady

Believe him – not me when it comes to this stuff. Next time I’ll ask him before sticking my foot in my mouth. Right now it’s firmly planted and I’ll leave the original post to bear witness.

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Furtively following fluttering flirts frequently formulates foul French flurries from frustrated fellow.

In other words flutterbys wasn’t the F word I was using out in the yard while attempting to photograph these pretties.

Pink Edged Sulfur Butterfly – Colias interior

Finally I managed to catch one feeding on some yellow hawkweed. It fluttered from one flower to another but I managed to snap off a couple quick shots ending the frustrating chase. Maybe. The females are infrequently white. I did spot one or two and if I do again the chase will be back on.

Lucky photograph of the day:
Landing on an Aster this one had an eye on me but was good enough to pose for one nice shot.

Staggering around swearing like a drunken sailor while chasing pretties is sure to draw attention and it wasn’t long before a Painted Lady came by.

Painted Lady Butterfly – Vanessa cardui

Vanessa cardui posing with the Brown-eyed Susans in the garden. Maybe it’s just me but I think wearing a fur coat is a bit ostentatious in the nice weather we’re having.

That does it. No matter how high she sticks up her nose a real high class lady doesn’t stick out her tongue.

Pics as usual are linked to larger (1024 x 768) images for a closer look and/or to use as desktop backgrounds.
No other use is implied or given unless you want to pose for a pushing up daisies photo shoot.