Caterpillar ID website?

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • June 6, 2011 at 4:49 pm
    Sara B.
    Participant

    Anyone know of a good one? I keep finding ones that don’t let you actually ID the thing. :roll: We have 3 different kinds, plus some eggs on a leaf that we’d like to ID. Who knows what will come out of those eggs… (I may not want to find out……)

    June 6, 2011 at 5:03 pm
    Karen Smith
    Moderator

    As far as I know there is not a Web site for IDing caterpillars. There are a few field guides available, though. My daughter particularly likes the Princeton Field Guide to Caterpillars of Eastern North America.

    Sometimes the best way to ID caterpillars (and eggs) is to place the caterpillar in a ventilated container, feed it leaves from the plant you found it on, and wait for it to complete its cycle to butterfly or moth. Then, you can ID the butterfly or moth.

    June 6, 2011 at 5:34 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    Karen’s right.  It is incredibly hard to ID stray caterpillars alone.  You really have to be an expert.  Your best bet is to identify the plant it was on, and start hunting around for known ones that eat that plant.  You MIGHT be able to tell.  You might not.  We’ve only successfully ID’d a few very common caterpillars here without waiting for them to hatch out.  You can try the same approach with the eggs–ID the plant and search for species that lay eggs on it–but it’s an even longer shot than the caterpillars. 

    It’s much easier if you watch the plant for a long while, and notice what sorts of butterflies or moths fly around it a lot, and then backtrack to see what their caterpillars look like.  We’ve managed to ID a couple that way. 

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • The topic ‘Caterpillar ID website?’ is closed to new replies.