Caterpillar Identification Guide

Studying the life stages of the butterfly is very interesting, especially the phase when a caterpillar turns into cocoon, and then an adult butterfly with beautiful wings emerges from it. If you notice butterflies frequently visiting your garden, look further for caterpillars. Most probably you will see them crawling in the vegetation, or adhering in the plant foliage. You need to have a watchful eye to view them, as their color camouflage with their dwelling place. With the correct caterpillar identification guide, you can predict the color and type of butterfly, which will emerge from it.

Identifying Variant Caterpillars

For caterpillar identification, you should look out for the features - main body color (gray, black, brown, green), basic color pattern (striped, spotted, camouflaged) and hair density (thin, sparse, thick). Some of them possess distinctive attributes, like tail, horn, spines, knobs, etc. Presented below are some of the commonly encountered caterpillar types, along with the tips for identifying them.

Tent Caterpillars
The tent caterpillar is one of the devastating pests for garden trees (cherry, plum, apple, peach), which is recognized from the webbed nest or homemade in the crotch of branches. Many caterpillars reside in a single nest, which they themselves build with tough layers of silk. Speaking about this hairy caterpillar identification, they are about 2 inch long, possess hair on their sides and have a white stripe on their back.

Fuzzy Caterpillars
If you are interested in fuzzy caterpillars, you can take a look at the caterpillars of Arctiidae family. Found in different colors, their whole body is covered with dense hair or setae. Hence, they are also known by the name woolly bears. These fuzzy caterpillars feed on a wide variety of plants. In fall season, you can find them under rocks, crevices, barks and other hibernating places.

Saddleback Caterpillars
As the name signifies, this caterpillar resembles the shape of a saddle. It is the larval stage of the brown moth. The saddleback caterpillar is small in size (less than 1 inch) and the main body color is brown with a contrasting green coloration in middle part. Two small while dots are present, one in the head and another in the end portion. This poisonous caterpillar bears antenna like distinctive spikes at both ends.

Green Caterpillars
One of the examples of green caterpillar is the larval stage of a luna moth. The caterpillars remain green throughout the five successive instars. They have small yellow to magenta colored dots along the back side. Large in size, they can grow up to 9 cm in length. The luna moth caterpillars are voracious eaters and their food plants include sweet gum, walnuts, hickories and birches.

False Unicorn Caterpillars
Commonly known as morning glory prominent, this caterpillar is found all over United States. It is commonly seen feeding on the morning glory plant, hence the name. The main body of false unicorn caterpillar is light brown in color, while the second and third segments are green. Distinctive features are 5-banded striped head and a prominent hump on the fifth abdominal segment.

So, the next time, you saw a creepy creature in your garden, don't blindly call it a caterpillar, as it can also be a worm. Caterpillar moves with a leg like locomotive system, which is not so in case of a worm. Likewise, examine the characters and see the plant type where you notice caterpillar. If you have difficulty in identifying caterpillars, you can refer to online images and compare your collected data for their identification.