Look at this weird caterpillar I just saw.

[rgG]

This really weird looking caterpillar was on the side of the house earlier today. Does anybody know what type of butterfly/moth this will become? It was about 3.5-4" long and about as big around as one of my fingers.. It is quite large for a caterpillar, IMO. Just thought you guys might like to see this. And, the colors really were as vibrant as they seem in the picture. It looked like it would glow in the dark, it was so bright.

[Carthaigh]

This is clearly a hoax. The picture has been heavily Photoshopped. ;-).

[Dennis S]

I've seen that color before , but I don't recognize the pattern. You can probably find a book in the bookstore with a picture of it.

[$tevie]

Some kind of hornworm maybe?

The colors are amazing. Like a tropical fish!

[Gutenberg]

It's a hornworm of some sort, I think. They are really large and turn into tiger moths.

[Jack D.]

[quote Carthaigh]This is clearly a hoax. ;-).
Not if it belonged to these guys....

[Baby Tats]

Where do you live? And what type of foliage do you have in your yard?

Might be a Sphinx moth of some type. They go through developmental stages (instars) and they look different in each one. I will see if I can find a picture of one.


BT

[Mactel]

You can pretend you are on Fear Factor or Survivor and eat the little bugger. :-)

[Baby Tats]

Sphinx sp.

Laurel Sphinx (Sphinx kalmiae) is about the closest I could find. Could be that or another closely related Sphinx.





If you want to find the species, poke through the indexed links at the bottom of this page: http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/trsphingini.htm

Sphinx kalmiae
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/skalmiae.htm
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/sskalmia.htm

[rgG]

Baby Tats, I think that may be it. We live in a northern suburb of Atlanta and have a lot of different trees and foliage on about 3 acres. I'm going to look at those links now. Thanks for posting the pic and links.