TOBACCO HORNWORM
CATERPILLAR OF THE WEEK: King of the vegetable patch, scourge of the gardener, and one of my all-time personal favorite caterpillars, Manduca sexta - the Tobacco Hornworm. This is the sphinx caterpillar that we find in our gardens, chowing down on our precious tomatoes. Huge and elegantly patterned with white chevrons and a sweeping red horn; black and white legs, like witches stockings; a large green head with formidable mandibles and an apatite to match. Get too close, and
HARRIS'S THREE-SPOT
CATERPILLAR OF THE WEEK: A leading candidate for "strangest in show," introducing Harrisimemna trisignata - the Harris's Three-spot caterpillar. The Harris's Three-spot caterpillar is one of the very weirdest. From behind it resembles an alert jumping spider, actually raising its rear legs like waiting fangs when prodded. From the side it may be easily overlooked as just dirt and old cobwebs, or perhaps a bird dropping. But the front end presents the most unique of this cater
YELLOW SLANT-LINE
CATERPILLAR OF THE WEEK: Introducing Tetracis crocallata - the Yellow Slant-Line. From their earliest instars, or growth stages, this geometrid moth caterpillar resembles a brown twig, but they only gain the fantastic "broken-off branch" appearance, with pale tan highlights and swollen thoracic horns, after their final shed. They are so completely devoted to their cryptic defensive strategy that when picked up off their perches, they remain ridged and twig-like laying in your
