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Spotted Apatelodes

Apatelodes torrefacta

Description:

Apatelodes torrefacta - Spotted Apatelodes. Also called white caterpillar.

Habitat:

This white caterpillar was spotted in the campground at Rocky Gap State Park in West Virginia.

2 Comments

mary.gallo.m
mary.gallo.m 9 years ago

Thank you ForestDragon. I did look up both websites for the two caterpillars and see the difference. Thank you for helping me with this spotting. Grateful!

ForestDragon
ForestDragon 9 years ago

Cool find! The Spotted Apatelodes caterpillars often get mistaken for American Dagger Moth caterpillars because they are somewhat similar looking in color. However, if you look at the arrangements of the lashes (the long, dark hairs) you will notice that your caterpillar's lashes are all in a row. there are two near the front and one on the rump with shorter dark hairs between.
American Dagger Moth caterpillars usually have two pair of dark lashes at the front that are offset from the center and one on the rump with no short dark ones between. You can compare yours to ones seen on the link above. Here is an American Dagger: http://bugguide.net/node/view/337008

mary.gallo.m
Spotted by
mary.gallo.m

West Virginia, USA

Spotted on Sep 15, 2014
Submitted on Sep 18, 2014

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