Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Giant Leopard Caterpillar

Today I found a Hypercompe scribonia caterpillar. They're the all black furry caterpillar people find now and mistake for the woolly bear caterpillar which has a brown stripe in in the middle. This one is also called the Giant Leopard Moth. What's neat about these is unlike the woolly bear caterpillar the Giant Leopard over winters and keeps growing in the spring. It's called a Giant because in the spring time the caterpillar can get pretty big, almost as long as your hand about. For now though they're maybe an inch or two long. Here's the BugGuide.net link for them.

I've taken pictures but don't know if they're usable yet.