| We found this egg on our Wisteria vine and decided to raise it to see what it would turn into. It turned out to be some kind of looper moth. This is a fun way to play scientist at home. It's like being a nature detective. If anyone can help us positively identify this species, feel free to contact us and we will give you credit on this page for your help. |
| Life Cycles |
| < Here is the life cycle of a lady bug. The eggs are found in a small group stuck to the underside of a leaf. The larva form eats other small insects. They especially love to eat aphids (so does the adult lady bug), so they are considered to be beneficial insects. |
Pupa
Eggs
| This is a duskywing butterfly egg found on our false indigo plant. The egg is white and turns orange as it matures. The caterpillar secretes silk strands to sew a leaf together to hide in as it eats. |
caterpillar
chrysalis
| Here is the life cycle of the hackberry emperor butterfly. The caterpillars eat the leaves of hackberry trees. The eggs are found in large clusters on the underside of a leaf. In a few days they hatch into tiny green caterpillars with white stripes. The larger caterpillars have horns on their head and a forked tail. Notice in the second chrysalis picture above that you can see the butterfly wings showing through just moments before the adult emerges. |
| Here is most of the life cycle of the sleepy orange butterfly. Ooops....we forgot to take pictures of the caterpillar eating leaves from our senna (cassia) plant. Other sulphur butterfly caterpillars eat this same plant. |
| Chrysalis |
| new butterfly - wings are wet |
| Egg |
| close-up of the sticky feet |
| These photos are of the eggs and caterpillars of the Imperial Moth. |
Larva
Pre-pupa
older pupa
| Monarch egg |
| Monarchs on bloodflower milkweed |
| Monarch butterfly on fall gourds |
| Close-up of the face of a Luna moth caterpillar. It uses the three pairs of rigid front legs with claws to hold onto its food as it eats. |
| Close-up of the fleshy feet (prolegs) of a Luna moth caterpillar, used for crawling. The bottom of the feet are covered with tiny hooklets (think of Velcro) called crochets, used to cling to things. |
| This is a Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) caterpillar. See the pale blue oval shapes along the center of its body? These are pores called spiracles. Caterpillars breathe through these kinds of openings. They don't have a nose or lungs like we do. |
| These wild-looking caterpillars are Milkweed Tussock Moths (Euchaetes egle). They look like they are made of fuzzy tufts of orange, white and black yarn. They eat the leaves of our milkweed plants. The young caterpillars eat together in a group. The adult moth is small and shiny silver-colored with a bright orange body marked with black dots. |
| Their cocoons are black and prickly, covered with the sharp hairs from the caterpillar's body. |
This is the Silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) life cycle. Notice how the egg develops a red ring around it as it matures. The caterpillar has a very large head in comparison to other butterfly caterpillars. These were eating our wisteria vine, but they also host on other legumes including black locust trees. |
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