Friday, May 29, 2009

Caterpillar ID!


Remember the caterpillar that crawled over a cactus last month (April 15)? Oh, well. Never mind. But ever since we spotted and photographed it, I've wanted to know the species. This week, the mail guy delivered two new reference books that are GREAT: The Life Cycles of Butterflies by Judy Burris and Wayne Richards; and Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner.

The first book is a visual guide to 23 common garden butterflies. Plus it also includes information on larval and nectar host plants for each species.

The second book by Wagner is lists nearly 400 species so it's much more extensive.

So what kind was our cactus visitor? A variegated fritillary (Euptioeta claudia)!

2 comments:

Helen said...

Thanks for the book references. I'll keep my eyes open for those.

Town Mouse said...

Sounds like a great book! I'll put it on the list...

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