Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is this a swallowtail?

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/xenubarb/caterpillarsm.jpg

thanks

no, it's not, but I am not sure just what it is. Where do you live, what plant was it on and how large is it?

bugguide.net has a great I.D. request page with some very knowledgeable folks. Regisiter for free and posting it for i.d is very simple. Upload it there and you will likely have an answer in no time!
bugguide.net ID Request

I realized that my post was kind of a stupid one after I hit the 'send' button.

I don't recognize the plant the caterpillar was on, it's a common local weed. I'll have to take one down to the nursery for an ID.

I'm in San Diego, Cali. We have several swallowtail sp. here as well as monarchs passing through, painted ladies, mourning cloaks, gulf fritillary are some of the common larger butterflies here.

Thanks for the bug guide link. I'll go there now.

Oops, forgot.
The caterpillar was about 2.5 inches long.

Not stupid at all, many people do not know the plant it was found on, and that is not even ALWAYS a key to i.d. since many species feed on many food plants.

I emailed our "regional" (Northeast) moth expert and he said it is a Cucullia speyeri and is quite interested in any other shots you have or if you still have access to the caterpillar to get more shots. You can email me directly through my username link above and I can put you in touch with him.

thanks!
lele

Thanks! I looked up the name, and found a few more images of this caterpillar, which are identical to mine. I've never seen the moth here, it's one of the owlets. I used to have a butterfly collection when I was a kid, and you get into the habit of looking.

I'm about as far from the Northeast as you can get, being in the Southwest, so that's interesting.

I got your email and replied but it bounced back to me as undeliverable. Weird. I hit reply so there should not have been a problem with the address. Is there another email we can use? I may have been blocked my some filter. My email is leleishka@netscape.net