The Buck Moth caterpillar feeds on Oaks.

Caterpillar Hosts: Various oaks including scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia), live oak (Q. virginiana), blackjack oak (Q. marilandica), and dwarf chestnut oak (Q. prinoides)

It resembles some butterfly caterpillars, finding those which feed on a type of plant is useful but not conclusive.

Rick, keeping them in a jar might kill them, they will pupate and if they don't get the correct moisture and temperature conditions they are unlikely to hatch. Many pupate in the ground, some overwinter as pupae or caterpillars.

3mm is a very early stage, cats change dramatically as they mature.

The NHM has a world database to search, I looked for Lepidopteran in the USA with host plant Antennaria..

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-...

It would appear you have a Vanessa sp.

http://www.butterfliesandmoths...

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

http://www.butterfliesandmoths...

http://www.bio.miami.edu/ecosu...

Thanks, Janet!!! That is likely it. I have never looked into which Vanessa sp.(spp.) we have here, but we certainly have at least one that I commonly see.

And thanks for the links, especially the first one.

You're welcome Rick. The NHM link is a gem, I haven't come across it before.

JRsbugs said:3mm is a very early stage, cats change dramatically as they mature.

Update:
Previous photo from 5 June (3mm), and now - 19 June (4cm).


I expected them to be voracious eaters; I thought all caterpillars were. But there is very little real damage to the plants. This one is on the Antennaria neglecta var. gaspensis. The ones on the Antennaria rosea ssp. confinus climbed the flower stalks and lived at the top, causing a lot of decimation there, and now they seemed to have disappeared....

That certainly matches the caterpillar of Vanessa virginiensis Rick! Look at the photo on the right column ..

http://www.butterfliesandmoths...

I have two Mullein moth cats on Verbascum thapsis, they live around the flower buds as they open but don't seem to be eating flowers. Sometimes I see them, sometimes I don't, I don't know where they disappear to as they are quite big.

Yay! I likely would have squished them long ago if it hadn't been for you, Janet.

I'm only too pleased to have helped save some wildlife Rick!

No matter what the insect is, nature has a very good food chain which enables survival of all species, unless man or natural disasters interfere.

Plants in general die back, and regrow, unless something is seriously damaging plants (red lily beetle!) then we are best leaving nature to it's devices and to help it survive. You can then pat yourself on the back for helping species survival, and enjoy watching it in the process.

A couple of days ago I was outside in the evening, under the Oak tree there was a mass of swarming insects lit up by the setting sun. It's a long time since I saw anything like it, many years ago hedge rows would be swarming with insects but with modern farming practices you would be lucky to see an insect. They are very important! My garden is now a mass of flowers which insects like to feed on, including native wildflowers, insects developed over thousands of years on them and many insects are species specific.

I am seeing alot of these guys on my clematis, although not noticing damage (yet). Any idea ? It is hard to get a good picture with my phone

It is rather hard to be sure, but it does look like a green June beetle (Cotinus nitida) It is found in both Canada and the US. Have a look at this link. It has a number of images for comparison.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

Moonhowl said:It is rather hard to be sure, but it does look like a green June beetle (Cotinus nitida) It is found in both Canada and the US. Have a look at this link. It has a number of images for comparison.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

I have 2 new beetles in my yard. The first on looks a lot like a Japanese beetle, except it is brown. It is the same size. I don't see it eating anything.

The second looks like a shiny black slightly oval dot, 1/8 of an inch or so big. It is in the ground everywhere and ate the buds off a lily. It came out full force after we dug up the front lawn that used to be mostly sweet violets. What are they?
Same size as Japanese beetle.





Shows size on a bank deposit slip.

The beetle looks like an Oriental beetle, the one on bugguide has the attention of a male Japanese beetle!

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

Exomala orientalis ..

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O...

Is the other one round, or more elongated? It's impossible to see what it is, but the second photo seems to show an elongated shape which suggests pollen beetles. They will be about now, they feed on the pollen of flowers and can be in large numbers. Are you sure that is what has eaten the lily buds, or something else? Do you have rabbits, they will eat lily buds.

We might have rabbits, but I am in-town and have dogs and cats that would eat them.
The little shiny black beetles look round at first glance, but are slightly oval.

Yes, the Oriental Beetle is the brown one. In fact the picture was taken 10 miles from here.

Do the beetles look like this?

There is a little black bug around here that eats flowers and flower buds! I thought it was rabbits or something until I caught it in the act!!

This may be a possible culprit ~

Third bug down - http://30junebugs.wordpress.co...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/...
http://texasinsects.tamu.edu/a...

I'm pretty sure this is one eating my peony flower bud.

It does look like the green june bug. Thanks !!!!! You guys are awesome!

Does anyone know what this is? I am finding them in pairs on glass door. They are attracted to light at night.

It is hard to see details in the photos. Do they look like these?
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd...