Yesterday morning Vince found some “weird” caterpillars in the elderberry bushes. We found three but last night, there were a few more. We did a little research and found that they are crecopia caterpillars and while not endangered, it is not real common to see them.
Aren’t they beautiful? They will eventually end up being crecopia moths, which are the largest moths in North America.
If you’re interested in learning more about these beautiful caterpillars/moths, there’s lots of info on the internet. This site is one I found very interesting as far as the life cycle.
The man who’s doing the native landscaping for us had told us that we’d see all kinds of interesting insects once the native plants begin maturing and no pesticides are being used in our yard. Whether these moths are here because of what we’re doing/not doing, I have no idea, but we do have elderberries, which are natives.
I sent him a text and a picture to show him what we found and got this response:
Vince asked me if he was excited and I said . . seems that he was.
I hope they will spin their cocoons here so we can watch them.
Carolyn Sands says
The caterpillar is so beautiful! It looks like something that was embroidered.
Cheryl says
Beautiful caterpillar. It looks like something from Dr. Who.
Nelle Coursey says
They are beautiful! I want to see a picture of what the moths look like so I am going to the site! We have seen a lot of Hummingbird Moths here this year!
Cindy F says
Wow! How cool with the various colors on it!! Looking forward to seeing the life cycle of it. I keep hoping for monarch caterpillars but it hasn’t happened yet. I added two more varieties of milkweed last week and this fall I will plant some of the other seeds I have.
Nancy H. says
Fascinating, I have never seen anything like them. Not native to my part of the country.
Dottie says
Hope you’ll be able to get some cocoons and watch the moth emerge. How COOL!
Beryl BC says
That is so pretty. It’s especially interesting to me, as we saw one of the moths last week in SW Ohio. It is, as they say, a very large moth, approximately 6 inches across. It was just as beautiful as the caterpillar is.
Sheryl says
…We’ve got elderberries in front and behind our house. (I’ve got some jugs of wine I made several years ago with some of our berries and some berries Tootie brought me)
I’ve never seen one of these caterpillars but I’m going to go out tomorrow to see if I can find one.
How great is it for you to have such beautiful nature to enjoy!!!!!
Rebecca says
..What a bonus for you! That’s an alien-looking caterpillar. It looks like it was colored by a child! 🙂
The moths are beautiful–they look like they’re knit of marled yarn. It was good to see a hand for scale–I know you said they’re big, but that really brings it home!