Types of Butterfly Caterpillars (With Pictures) - Identification Guide However, it’s good to remember that some moth caterpillars also have smooth bodies. Therefore, if you find a smooth-bodied caterpillar without tufts of wispy hairs, the chances are you have found a butterfly caterpillar. In addition, unlike some moth caterpillars, caterpillars that become butterflies never pupate in the soil.Īlthough some caterpillars have fleshy spikes, they typically lack the hairy bodies that characterize many moth caterpillars. When they enter the pupal stage, butterfly caterpillars develop a hard-shelled chrysalis. Additionally, caterpillars that become butterflies have six front legs and several stumpy prolegs.Īnother way to identify butterfly caterpillars is by their pupae. Other features to help identify these caterpillars are the presence of horns, branched spikes, or spines. Butterfly Caterpillar Identificationīutterfly caterpillars are identified by their size, smooth body, colorful patterns, distinctive markings, and the host plants where they feed. Descriptions and pictures of the caterpillars and butterflies will help spot these worm-like insects in a garden landscape, park, or woodland. This article is a comprehensive guide to identifying types of butterfly caterpillars. But the dark brown mourning cloak butterfly is a spiky black caterpillar with stinging spines on its body. However, the zebra longwing butterfly caterpillar is a grayish cylindrical caterpillar covered in black, fleshy spikes. Species of caterpillar butterflies have specific characteristics allowing you to know the type of butterfly it becomes.įor example, the famous monarch butterfly starts life as a distinctive black, white, and yellow striped caterpillar. Identifying caterpillars that become butterflies is relatively easy. In addition, butterfly larvae or caterpillars can be green, brown, black or yellow and have identifiable stripes, patterns, and other recognizable features. Butterfly caterpillars typically have a smooth body, and some exotic-looking caterpillars may have a spiny appearance. I’m ever amazed at the wonders of nature, which certainly include the life cycles of butterflies and I thoroughly enjoyed observing this one.Share on Email Share on Pinterest Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedInĬaterpillars that turn into butterflies are colorful worm-like crawling insects in all shapes and sizes. After a couple of hours, it’s wings were hardened, it took flight and was gone. Two weeks later it emerged from its chrysalis at the left of this image and became a mature buttefly. Zebra swallowtail butterfly and chrysalis One week later it was about one inch long, and it then made this chrysalis. At this stage it is about one-half inch long and feeding on paw-paw leaves, the only leaves it will eat. This is the zebra swallowtail caterpillar, which my friend, Connie brought to me. This photograph is special to me, because the butterfly is one I raised, and it was made shortly after the butterfly emerged from its chrysalis. And I have seen it in our Lexington, Kentucky, backyard twice in the last two years. I’ve often seen this butterfly while hiking woodland streams and watching for spring wildflowers. The Zebra swallowtail is one of my favorite butterflies.
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