Tag: caterpillars

2025 Caterpillar Season – Radcliffe’s Dagger

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Splendid Radcliffe’s Dagger
Acronicta superans radcliffei fam. Noctuidae (Hodges#9226)
Host plant: black cherry (Prunus serotina)
Date found: ~09, Aug, 2025
Location found: Cuivre River State Park, Lincoln County, MO
Notes: Edit 2/Jan/2026. Science is learning and correcting our mistakes when possible. There have been no confirmed collections of A. superans in MO per Heitzman’s catalogue. The larva of A. superans looks quite similar to the penultimate instar of A. radcliffei, which I now believe this larvae should be labeled as. The primary differences are that A. superans will have black snowflaking on the head, whereas A. radcliffei will have this patterning in red. Another potential option is A. hasta, but I think less likely. All three are cherry/rose specialists. That said, it would not be out of the question for A. superans to be found in Missouri. If any who may have found this post has reason to disagree with my determination, I’d appreciate hearing from you.

2025 Caterpillar Season – Saddleback

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Saddleback
Acharia stimulea fam. Limacodidae (Hodges#4700)
Host plant: Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)
Date found: ~02, Aug, 2025
Location found: Trail of Tears State park, Cape Girardeau County, MO
Notes: Three caterpillars were found at this date and location. One was found on pawpaw (Asimina triloba) and two on sassafras (Sassafras albidum).

2025 Caterpillar Season – Harris’s Three-spot

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, WGNSS Field Trips, wildlife, wildlife photography

Harris’s Three-spot
Harrisimemna trisignata fam. Noctuidae (Hodges#9286)
Host plant: buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Date found: ~16, Aug, 2025
Location found: Franklin County, MO
Click here to see the adult moth
Notes: Part spider and part bird dropping, this caterpillar is absolutely astounding. Note the empty head capsules that the caterpillar retains with each successive molt. It has been shown that these caterpillars use these to thrash at potential parasitoid wasps and flies that approach while attempting to deposit eggs on their would-be hosts.

Special thanks to Eva Wiedeman who found this individual in her neighborhood and brought it to our WGNSS fieldtrip at Council Bluff Lake. Photographing this caterpillar was a prime objective for me this season. Now I just need to find one on my own and hopefully a larger 4th instar!

2025 Caterpillar Season – Walnut Caterpillar

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, mammals, wildlife, wildlife photography

Walnut Caterpillar
Datana integerrima fam. Notodontidae (Hodges#7907)
Host plant: Found on white oak (Quercus alba)
Date found: 09, Aug, 2025
Location found: BK Leach Conservation Area, Lincoln County, MO
Notes: This species hosts on hickories, pecans and walnut. On this date and location I found 16 similarly sized individuals all feasting on the same small hickory tree.

Datana integerrima (walnut caterpillar)

2025 Caterpillar Season – Greater Oak Dagger Moth

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Greater Oak Dagger Moth
Acronicta lobeliae fam. Noctuidae (Hodges#9238)
Host plant: Found on white oak (Quercus alba)
Date found: 09, Aug, 2025
Location found: Cuivre River State Park, Lincoln County, MO
Notes: Our second largest dagger moth species, the erroneously named A. lobeliae is a specialist feeder on oaks.

2025 Caterpillar Season – Lost Owlet

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Lost Owlet
Ledaea perditalis fam. Erebidae (Hodges#8491)
Host plant: Found on buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Date found: 09, Aug, 2025
Location found: BK Leach Conservation Area, Lincoln County, MO
Notes: I found quite a few of these caterpillars while looking through buttonbush hoping to find Harrisimemna trisignata. I struck out on finding my target species, but was happy to find this one that I had not known about before. Of the three dozen or so individuals I came across, only a few of the largest, which I assume to be the ultimate instar, showed this bright fuchsia middorsal longitudinal band. All others were smaller and were plain green in color with no obvious lines or bands. I have noticed a propensity for buttonbush to show anthocyanin coloration in aging leaves as well as in galls produced by gall mites (Aceria cephalanthi). I suppose this coloration in the caterpillar could be something of a cryptic coloration to help blend into the leaves of a late-season buttonbush?

2025 Caterpillar Season – Gray Furcula

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Gray Furcula
Furcula cinerea fam. Notodontidae (Hodges#7937)
Host plant: Found on black willow (Salix nigra)
Date found: 09, Aug, 2025
Location found: BK Leach Conservation Area, Lincoln County, MO
Notes: Dark eyespots on first thoracic segment give this caterpillar the look of a potential snake.

2025 Caterpillar Season – Definite Tussock Moth

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Definite Tussock Moth
Orgyia definita fam. Erebidae (Hodges#8314)
Host plant: Found on common blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis)
Date found: 09, Aug, 2025
Location found: Cuivre River State Park, Lincoln County, MO
Notes: Found in dense populations east of the Mississippi River, this species has only a handful of records in Missouri databases such as iNaturalist and butterfliesandmoths.org. I realize that I had seen this caterpillar before, but being the amateur that I am, I though I was looking at a lightly colored or recently molted Orgyia leucostigma.

2025 Caterpillar Season – Gray Hairstreak

2025 Caterpillar Season, Backyard Gardens, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Gray Hairstreak
Strymon melinus fam. Lycaenidae (Hodges#4336)
Host plant: Found on partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata)
Date found: 07, Aug, 2025
Location found: Backyard prairie patch, St. Louis County, MO
Notes: After years of searching for a hairstreak caterpillar, I found 11 of these guys in one evening while searching the backyard prairie with a UV flashlight. Plant partridge pea!

2025 Caterpillar Season – Fluid Arches

2025 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Fluid Arches
Morrisonia latex fam. Noctuidae (Hodges#10291)
Host plant: Found on hop hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)
Dates found: 05, Jul, 2025
Locations Found: Logger’s Lake Recreation Area, Shannon County, MO
Notes: This is a very polyphagous species and can be found on almost any native woody plant.