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Pseudosphinx tetrio
More than a dozen of these nearly 6" long caterpillars were clustered together at eye level on a trio of small trees. They are said to bite, but more than that, they have a nasty taste and predators avoid them. I noticed that their tails (tiny, black, at the rear) wag and wiggle like a dog tail. They morph into a sphinx moth.
I don't know what kind of tree they were defoliating, but Wikipedia says they like particularly like Plumeria (frangipani) tree leaves, and will completely defoliate a tree in time.
When my camera got too close, they whipped their front ends back and forth, making it hard to get a good photo.
1 Comment
Photo No. 1: is a beautiful photo....two, beautiful caterpillars....