A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Spilosoma virginica
This is a furry caterpillar that was resting on a leaf, and it's fur was about 1 inch long. As you can see in the picture, near it's body there is some dark dots, and it is covered up by the long hair. Additionally, this species is very similar to the Agreeable tiger moth (Spilosoma congrua.)
Since it's only a caterpillar at the moment, it's habitat is mostly on plants and trees, eating to get bigger and get ready to change into a butterfly. After some more research, I found that it's habitat as a butterfly is "throughout the aspen parkland and boreal forest."
I found that this species feeds on a spectrum of herbaceous plants, but also trees, plants, and bushes. Furthermore, this species mostly flies from the middle of June to the middle of July.
Spotted on Mar 14, 2015
Submitted on Mar 14, 2015
2 Comments
I agree, this is not a tropical species. It is really difficult to identify caterpillars. Leave this one as "Unknown"
Spilosoma virginica is a North American species.
http://eol.org/pages/861033/maps