wildlife – Page 29 – A Thousand Acres of Silphiums

2024 Caterpillar Season – Yellow-collared Slug

2024 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

I got out early this morning and visited one of my favorite caterpillar hunting grounds – Cuivre River State Park in Lincoln County, MO. The pecker gnats were bad around sunrise but they would get to unbearable by lunch time, along with some nice heat and humidity. It was a typical mid-summer outing – rather slow. However, I always seem to find enough to keep me interested.

Along with a couple of new species, I was pleased to find two specimens of the yellow-collared slug (Apoda y-inversum #4667). A member of my favorite Family – the Limacodidae, the adult moth of this species is known by the name of the inverted-Y slug moth. Both of these cats were found on different leaves of the same hickory sapling. I don’t find these guys every season, so this was a nice find indeed.

Slug moth caterpillars are standouts in the lepidopteran world in more ways than one. In these photos I hoped to showcase their peculiar way of shielding their heads by keeping it retracted in their thorax. Even during feeding, they keep their head covered by a fleshy extension of the first thoracic segment. Seeing their true heads extended, especially in this species is quite a rare sight. I guess the one who briefly did show its face for me today was getting a little curious about what I was doing to the leaf it was feeding on as I manipulated the leaf in the clamp to get the angles I was looking for.

A look at the fleshy thoracic segment that covers the caterpillar’s head. It will drape this covering over the leaf margin, allowing it to eat without exposing its head.

A closer look of a feeding *Apoda y-inversum*. Notice the typical straight-edge feeding pattern that the Limacodidae are known for.

A partial look at the exposed head capsule of *Apoda y-inversum*.

2024 Caterpillar Season – Confused Woodgrain

2024 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Today’s caterpillar resides in the very diverse Family Noctuidae. The confused woodgrain (Morrisonia confusa #10521) is a generalist, feeding on a wide variety of dicotyledonous plants. The two I am featuring here were found on white oak (Quercus alba) at Huzzah Conservation Area in Phelps County, MO.

The confused woodgrain, named because of the wing pattering of the adult, has only a single brood each year. The larvae can be found from June through October. This long development in the larval stage is common in polyphagous species. This is assumedly due to the wide variety of secondary phytochemicals that the larvae and their gut flora must be able to contend with. It is also assumed that specialist species generally develop quicker due to being in sync with just one or a few specific hosts.

2024 Caterpillar Season – Black-Blotched Schizura

2024 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Tonight we have a common, but fantastic member of the Notodontidae Family. The black-blotched schizura (Schizura leptinoides #8011) is most often found on hickory and walnut, but can be found on other woody plants as well. The two cats I found this season were both found on low hickory branches.

The protuberances and warts found along the length of its body come in handy as it mimics damaged and senescent portions of the leaf blade as they feed openly, taking the place of the leaf tissue that they consume.

black-blotched schizura (*Schizura leptinoides* #8011)

2024 Caterpillar Season – Spotted Phosphila

2024 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Today’s caterpillar is one of a few amazing Noctuids that specialize on greenbrier (Smilax sp.). As fantastic as the larval stage of Phosphila miselioides (Hodges #9619) is, the adult is even better and I hope to find it one day.

*Phosphila miselioides* in its typical body position when disturbed.

2024 Caterpillar Season – Tulip-tree Beauty

2024 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

I’ll admit it, I will typically put members of the Geometridae right back on the plants that I found them on without taking any photos. The “inchworms” or “loopers” are typically very small and difficult to get a good photograph of. Additionally, species in this family tend to exhibit a great deal of variability in colors and patterns. To make matters even worse, members of this family tend to be polyphagous, or generalists when it comes to their host plants. These factors can make it quite difficult to accurately identify the specimens to species level when working only with photographs. However, this is a very important family when it comes to available biomass to birds and other predators in the spring and early summer.

Tulip-tree Beauty (*Epimecis hortaria* – 6599)

I tend to be a big fan of common names given to moths, but I feel this one misses the mark. This season, I found the tulip-tree beauty (Epimecis hortaria – 6599) on sassafras, pawpaw and flowering dogwood. Why they chose this name for such a generalist species is beyond me. However, I guess it definitely is a beauty.

This species is known to have a good deal of variability in the color and patterns they exhibit, but the half dozen or so I found all looked like the one pictured in this post. Maybe this variability is region specific, or I just had bad luck? It is a relatively easy species of inchworm to identify due to its unusual body proportion, making it look as though it might brag about how much it can bench 😉

This poor guy has fallen prey to an external parasitoid wasp (Euplectrus sp.) larvae and, unfortunately, will not make it to its adult stage.

2024 Caterpillar Season – Grapevine Cats

2024 Caterpillar Season, insects, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Two caterpillar species today, each commonly found on the native grapes (Vitis sp.) in Missouri. First up is the Noctuid species Alypia octomaculata (eight-spotted forester moth). These guys are stunning as both larvae and adults.

Eight-spotted Forrester Moth (*Alypia octomaculata*)

Next up is the grapeleaf skeletonizer moth (Harrisina americana) in the Family Zygaenidae. Both H. americana and the eight-spotted forester moth, pictured above can be found visiting flowers during the day. This species is gregarious and are often seen lined up side by side.

2024 Caterpillar Season – Humped Oakworm

2024 Caterpillar Season, insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Today’s caterpillar is one of two species of Notodontid in the genus Symmerista. This is one of those frustrating cases of two species being so similar that confirming an identification is near impossible. Most of the literature suggests that the caterpillars of S. canicosta (red-humped oakworm) and S. albifrons (white-headed prominent) are indistinguishable as larvae and are so similar as adults that the only way to distinguish the two is by dissecting the genitalia. Both species are found in Missouri and both feed on the same host plants – beech, chestnut and oaks (any members of the Fagaceae). These are common and attractive cats that are gregarious in early instars but go solo when they get to this stage.

Found at Young Conservation area on 30, June, 2024.

Curved-line Owlet

insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

Here’s an old one from the Facebook archives that somehow never managed to be put on the blog. This is the caterpillar of the curved-line owlet moth (Phyprosopus callitrichoides Hodges #8525), a fantastic member of the Noctuidae and one of several “grail species” that caterpillar hunters are on the lookout for from mid-summer to early fall. This one was found on August 20, 2016 at St. Francois State Park. I have not found another of these since, but I am hopeful that I might find one this year. Wherever I visit, I am looking closely at catbriers (Smilax sp.), which are there sole hosts.

A fantastical organism that is worthy of a place in a Tim Burton film – the curved-line owlet (*Phyprosopus callitrichoides* Hodges #8525).

I know it has something wise to say, if only I could understand…

Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly

insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

The Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly (Eurytides marcellus) is a captivating and distinctive species known for its striking appearance and fascinating life cycle. Native to North America, this butterfly is easily recognized by its elongated wings adorned with black and white stripes, resembling the pattern of a zebra. Its elegance is not just limited to its appearance but extends to its behaviors, ecological interactions, and adaptations.

A copulating pair of Zebra Swallowtail (*Eurytides marcellus*) found at Washington State Park in Washington County, Missouri.

The life cycle of the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly comprises four stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult. The cycle begins when a female lays eggs singly on the leaves of the pawpaw tree (Asimina spp.), the primary host plant for this species. The eggs hatch into caterpillars, which are initially green and mimic the appearance of the pawpaw leaves. As they grow, the caterpillars undergo several molts, during which their coloration may change to include yellow and black bands.

Late instar caterpillar of the Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) found at Myron and Sonya Glassberg Family Conservation Area in Jefferson County, Missouri.

Pawpaws contain toxic secondary chemicals called acetogenins that the developing swallowtail caterpillars sequester and which persist in the tissues and wings of adults, providing effective protection against most predators.

Brown form of the Zebra Swallowtail (*Eurytides marcellus*) chrysalis found at Meramec State Park in Franklin County, Missouri.

Hunting Spring Leps in 2024

insects, Lepidoptera, macro, wildlife, wildlife photography

The fellas and I spent a few hours this spring hunting for a few butterflies in Phelps and Franklin Counties. We finally had some success locating the rare golden-banded skipper after numerous attempts over the past two or three seasons. We were hunting in the right place, but not in the exact right spot. Thanks to our friends who shared the location of their original find.

The Golden-banded Skipper (*Telegonus cellus*)

In order to find and identify the rare skipper butterflies (Hesperiidae), one must first find and take lots of photos of the more common species. There are so many skippers that look very similar to each other and even with taking photos, I found it to be a painful chore to come to the correct identification on many of these. Many thanks to CA Ivy from Butterflies and Moths of North America for helping me get the proper IDs on the following.

Little Glassy Wing (Pompeius verna)

Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades)

Bell’s Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes belli)

Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan)

Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon)

We found other leps besides skippers, including quite a few of the Ozark Baltimore Checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton ozarkae).

It was so nice to see something with these colors and patterns that wasn’t a dang Pearl Crescent. This one is the Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis).

I’ve struggled for years to get a photo of the Little Wood-Satyr (*Megisto cymela*). I finally found the trick to get them to stay put for a few seconds… 😉

Casey and I stumbled across this first for me – a gorgeous Tephra Tussock Moth (Dasychira tephra) caterpillar.

Not another lep, but we had a few of this fantastic species – the Saw-combed Fishfly (*Nigronia serricornis*) associated with a fen and creek we were searching in.

It has been suggested that we might be seeing a very good moth and butterfly season this year due to birds and other predators filing up and raising their young on the Brood XIX periodical cicadas. From my anecdotal experiences, this seems to be true. Hopefully I can find more caterpillars over the summer if this continues to be the case.

-OZB