Tuesday, June 16, 2015

June 11

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It's amazing what you can find, so easily, with a bit of help from Google....... I googled black caterpillar orange spots, and one of the choices was "spiny black caterpillar orange spots", so I asked it to show me those, and I believe this is the caterpillar of a mourning cloak butterfly.

I have heard/read that we have mourning cloaks in this area, and this surely looks like the images of mourning cloak caterpillars.

Scary looking thing, isn't it?  With those bright dots and big spines.....  Looks like a "biter beware" message to me! 

I'm pleased to have gotten an image this sharp.  It was hustling across the sidewalk as we watched.  The info I saw when I looked at the page I link to above said that these are about 2" long when mature.  I'd say it was that long. 




Most of the neighborhood peonies are finished blooming.  Their later flowers are smaller and less fluffy than the earlier ones.  I'm savoring every last petal...........


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1 comment:

Jeanie said...

Great caterpillar photo -- good detail. I wonder what it will look like when it grows up?