Saturday, August 28, 2010

LOL Catz...er...Caterpillars

I was thinking, which I do from time to time. Why is it that only the furry felines get to have all the fun with the horribly spelled captions? Geesh, they have an entire website devoted to them. I found this site where you can caption your photos easily. So, since I am in an incredibly silly mood, here are some caterpillars who cannot spell and do not know proper grammar... Enjoy!

I was super excited to see this caterpillar, a Monkey Slug, Phobetron pithecium and I had told John Howard my wish to see one. Sure enough, there was one just waiting for us to discover it. My photos were not so good, so this one is John's photo. It does look just like a mini-toupee`and supposedly it mimics the cast skin of a tarantula. It will become this moth that has strange furry legs.
This caterpillar amazed me. It looks just like the edge of a torn leaf. Such great camouflage. This is a Double-lined Prominent, Lochmaeus bilineata. It will become this moth, if it makes it to adulthood.

I have been wanting to see a Spiny Oak Slug caterpillar for some time now. So freaking cool! The crazy colors and all those spines. And, yes people, they do sting! Anyway the Spiny Oak Slug, Euclea delphinii, will become this moth decorated with cool patches of green.

One of my favorites...Giant Swallowtail or Orange Dog caterpillar, Papilio cresphontes. It will become one of the most beautiful butterflies out there. Yes, it is a bird poop mimic. But it also has a defense of a bright red osmeterium that the caterpillar will rear back and whip out at the predator's eyes. Looks almost like a snake's tongue. Check it out on a previous post.


All these caterpillars and many more were found last weekend after dark. Go outside and find some of these amazing critters!

5 comments: