Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i fished up a catepillar at the bottom of my pool recently and thought it was dead until it seemed to start moving so i got something to put it into. it's black and looks like a cutworm except that there are yelow spots right near the eye

i'm starting to wonder if there's such thing as a water catepillar

any ideas?

No, if it is the larva of a moth or bf it will not survive water. they breath thru spiracles which are little openings along the side of the body.

Any chance of a pic? If not, some questions:

where do you live?
how long is it?
what colors and pattern?
does it have any protrusions, hairs, spines, etc.?
when you say it looks like a cutworm do you mean b/c it curls to a "c"?

here is a site with lots of pics. Might help get you in the right direction if you want to look thru all.
Caterpillars of Eastern Forests

i don't think i can get a pic but thanks for the information on the moth

we live in southern California
the catepillar is about a little less than an inch
and it's sort of blackish with only two yellow spots on its forehead. it doesn't seem to have any protrusions and seems pretty smooth
i looked at cutworm patterns online and it seemed that it looked similar because its blackish and has a palish strip running on its back. so that's why i thought it might be a cutworm

i'll look into the website. thank you again for the information

hmmm...not sure. There is also a Moths of North America where you can choose by state and some of the photos have pics of the caterpillar as well as adult but it would be a lot of searching. If it remains alive you can i.d. it as a moth (provided it pupates and ecloses) or if you do determine it to be a cutworm - smush it ;-/ I am not one to kill tiny critters but cutworms are bad news. If you figure out what it is I'd be curious to know.

lele
Link

that's a lot of info :-P thanks for all the help :-D

i'll let you know if i can find it