Discovered three of these on my baptisia plant








New to me
Tried looking them up no luck
Anyone have an idea?
Thanks

.........................................................................................
mystery solved
Black-spotted Prominent

You could try checking out this one...it might be a Red- Humped Oak Worm Moth...if not that one I still think it is some kind of moth.

When they are not butterflies...I will push them to walk on twigs and move them to unimportant bushes in a different part of the yard.

May September be a spectacular month!

I always try to ID caterpillars before I squash them, there are many helpful sites on the internet for IDs. If they aren't butterfly cats, I go ahead and squash. Sometimes moving them isn't the best thing to do. They might be caterpillars that are invasive in your area and are not only attacking garden plants but also crops, so destroying them is the best thing to do.
For instance, Arkansas has been invaded by large numbers of fall army worms, so many that the U of A received a special permit from the feds to use a specific pesticide on crops here, mainly rice, but also cotton and corn.
I've had a lot of army worms in my own yard and I destroy every one I find.

I have a live and let live policy in my garden
Was just curious who they were

I thought the Red-Hummped looked the closest to what I found
the colors are off but there may be a big variation in that moth

I enjoy sharing the land but sometimes I like to know a bit about them

Thanks

Well, that's fine, but you may change your mind if you have a huge infestation of a plant pest. I have.

Hello Cinda,
If you can't figure out an ID, you might try raising one to its adult form, moth or butterfly. You already know what they eat! Lots of on-line instructions and materials are available for this project. The adults are usually easier to identify than the caterpillars.

A lot easier. There are several members who raise butterfly cats, mostly Monarchs and Black Swallowtails in their house.
Hornworms are produced by members of the Sphinx or hawk moth family, and it's a huge family. There are lots of different hornworms that eat different plants. It would be interesting to raise one to see what hawk moth you have. Now I'm not talking about tomato hornworms!

Google wasn't helping me.. but I tried a search in Bugguide just the word baptisia.. maybe this one?
found this picture first and the orange head seemed a good clue, and that funny tail end
https://bugguide.net/node/view...

https://bugguide.net/node/view...

How Neat!
The head reminded me of a long tailed skipper... which usually eats climbing beans and desmodium... so the baptisia seems like the correct family... but the skipper doesn't have the forked tail....

I've had forked tail cats on sesbania (Selenisa sueroides), which also seems like the correct family... but... the head is different, the stripes are different, as well as the hairs on the body.

I think sallyg has the right idea... here's the same caterpillar on lespadeeza... also a similar plant family:
https://www.carolinanature.com...

It's not a real attractive moth, but the baptisia is finished growing, (ready to go dormant anyway)... why not let the cats eat it?

gardengus said:I have a live and let live policy in my garden

YAY!!!

I think that is it

Thank you

there are three still out there and I have more than enough baptisia to share

I've never noticed any cats on my baptisia. Don't know why, I have cats on everything else!

Regional?
Like I never ever have seen a cat on violets even tho they are s'posed to be a host. I think just not in my zone.

It might be. Now I have a friend who lives nearby and she has a large shaded areas with lots of violets. She hosts Diana Fritillary cats on them every year. How lucky! That's kind of a rare butterfly.