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Is this an owlet moth caterpillar? Its legs are yellow. Another pic to follow. I've never seen one like this and try as I might, can't ID.
Eastern woodland near the South Branch of the Potomac River.
Spotted on Oct 14, 2012
Submitted on Oct 31, 2012
2 Comments
Hi ForestDragon,
Thanks for the info. You may be on to something. The larva I photographed was a beautiful turquoise with black spots; the one in the first link was greener. I know there can be quite a bit of variation in color within a species, however. "My" larva was shorter and fatter than the one in the first link. Thanks for the lead!
Hi Linda! Interesting spotting. I think that this might be a Sawfly larva, which would explain why you haven't been able to ID it. I can't see the head in either image but body shape looks right. Here is one with similar coloration to yours:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/13641
Sawflies are a type of wasp:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/112
It can be very difficult to identify the species of the larvae but you might get lucky! I hope this helps. I have two Sawfly larvae in my spottings (though they are black).
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/158...
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/161...