Special caterpillar

[Fleur]

Here is one of my caterpillars this year, I find it quite special, it is darker than the usual cats and it has a crooked (antennae?). He seems perfectly healthy and my father named it Piaggio.

[butterflysweeti_cdn]

Soooo cute !

I have had 2 this summer that have been darker than the rest, and they had really long antenaes. But I didn;t really notice anything different when they emerged as a butterfly.


great picture!

[John Beaulieu]

Anytime that we have had a lighter or darker than average caterpillar it has always emerged as a perfectly average butterfly. The butterflies do not seem to vary as greatly as the caterpillars do.

We have not seen a monarch here in Midhurst for over a week. There has been the odd red admiral in the garden, but that's it. My tropical milkweed is peaking in bloom and I need good pollinators to set seed on it!

The large milkweed bugs have now discovered that I have pods on my swamp milkweed.

John

[Fleur]

Today I picked the leaf it was on, he crawled on my finger and he tried to nibble it! I don't know if I tasted very good, but all it did was tickle me.