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Project Noah Nature School
Dasychira basiflava
Yellow-orange with three thick tufts of black fur (two near the head, one at the very end of the body). The caterpillar is fuzzy, with long white (or light yellow) hairs extending from its sides. There are two black "horns" on either side of the head, which are formed from long hairs. The head and front feet are black, and the back feet are light yellow or orange. The underside is dark. It is a little over 1/2 inch long, not including the long hairs. An active little fellow. It is night now, but I have my light on. Update as of June 23nd 2014 (27 days after original post): My friend has molted several times and has grown much larger (now about 1.5"). The photos attached are of what (s)he looked like after a recent molt. There has been another molt since, and the appearance of the caterpillar has changed slightly. The "fur" has become a muted yellow and has more white dusted throughout. I'll try to upload another photo. I think that (s)he is close to building a cocoon. UPDATE: July 29th Captured: May 27, 2014 Pupated: July 9, 2014 Emerged from cocoon: July 25, 2014 Believed to be female.
I found this little guy eating a leaf on a maple tree branch.
The photos included in this post were not taken at the same time. Those with paper in the background were taken almost a month later, after the caterpillar had molted several times.
Hello ForestDragon! I uploaded new photos of the caterpillar, now that about a month has passed. I thought that you might want to see. I also included an update in the description. The caterpillar has grown about an inch since I first caught it!
Thank you for helping me identify my little friend! I found another caterpillar today, but it looks like it recently hatched (it is teeny tiny!) so it is difficult to identify. It is possibly a leopard moth caterpillar, which would be lovely. I'll have to wait and see. c:
Spotted on Jun 23, 2014
Submitted on May 28, 2014
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