Anyway, the caterpillars have been looking for nom noms. Alas many of them get squashed on the path. Here's one I saved (no I didn't touch it cos I am one of those people who get itchy spots from just looking at a spiny caterpillar).
And its "face"
And nomming away on a wild mustard/brassica
We thought they might be giant leopard moths or something similar but those are not found in California, certainly not in the Bay area. Also they don't have red stripes when they curl up. They just have dull red spots where the spines ("setae") stick out. They are some sort of woolly bear caterpillar, which means they are a moth caterpillar. I assume that they are a good sized moth cos the larvae get to about 3cm long.
So the plot thickens! Wish I knew an entymologist around here. Guess I should look online at the local universities.
ETA 11 April 2009. I think we have an ID thanks to "National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America" (Arthur E Evans). The caterpillars are Painted Arachnis (Arachnis picta) instars. They are a form of tiger moth. The grubs eat weedy plants, which fits the bill for the mustards we found them on. Yay! Thanks, NWF!
1 comment:
We saw a caterpillar very similar to that, many years ago, on Guernsey. I have an insect book somewhere, will have a look and see if it is mentioned. Mind you it spectacularly failed to identify something we found in our garden last summer, wish I'd taking a photo of it (not a caterpillar, a flying insect of some kind).
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