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Project Noah Nature School
I found this on a leaf outside. Somebody told me it might be a slug, and those arent actually eyes, they are fake. The front of it is actually the white part which I thought was the back!
In the early larvae stages, the spicebush swallowtail looks like a bird dropping - then will morph slightly to get eye spots. Looks like you got it between these stages. Great spotting! The spicebush swallowtails are hyper butterflies. I used video to capture one having a sugar-induced fit around the blossoms on my Silverado Sage plant. It never sat still so I could take a clear still photo.
Those "eyes" are meant to fool predators. It's a caterpillar, but I don't which species.
Spotted on Apr 30, 2012
Submitted on May 4, 2012
