Four O'clock Moth Caterpillar

Notes:

Striking yellow, with aggregated black spots and white spiracles surrounded by black, its total length measured 57 mm and its body width 8 mm. Transformation of the larva into adult begins with the attachment of strong, silken threads onto adjacent leaves. Over a couple of days, bodily contractions and fluid secretions progress to complete pupation. The pupa is around 25 mm long and 9 mm in diametre. It is chestnut brown, with black spots on its abdominal segments. Some seventeen days later, the moth emerges on the afternoon, with its heavy, stout, bright-yellow body and royal-blue wings with numerous translucent windows. The 4 o’clock moth Dysphania fenestrata, gets its name from its conspicuous arrival upon the wing in the afternoons of early summer.