Eastern Black Swallowtail on Button Bush.

I'm so excited! I saw a caterpillar on one of my parsley plants... I'm new to this so I Googled "caterpillar on parsley," and what I saw is definitely the first instar of an Eastern Black Swallowtail!!!

Edit--I went back and looked at the other plants, and found more caterpillars , later instars!

Jay, great pictures! Our button bush here is about bloomed out. I went to check out my neighbor's last week and it only had a few blooms left on it. It's definitely a neat plant just for the blooms but the fact that it attracts butterflies like mad only makes me love it more. I still remember the first time I saw one. I was like, "I have to know what that is!"

Terri, that's awesome that you've got Eastern Black STs! You would think we would get them earlier in Florida than you in Illinois, but we've really only had the caterpillars show up in the last three weeks or so. I still wonder what makes them decide to come out of their chrysalis after being in there all winter. Are you bringing your cat inside or leaving it outside? They get eaten by a lot of things which is why I ask. I call them "Herb-Stuffed Caterpillars" since they eat fennel, dill, and parsley (among other things). I figure that probably just makes them taste better to birds which is bad! If you have any questions, feel free to ask away. Caterpillars do some crazy things, and I think Swallowtails are crazier than others so don't be afraid to ask if you don't know something. We all love sharing our knowledge on here!

I went outside to pick more Pipevine because, well, Polydamas. They're in their "we only want to eat stems now" phase which is a little annoying. It was after six so I didn't take my camera so naturally I saw a Swallowtail flying around. I couldn't have gotten a picture of it anyway the way it kept flying. I think it was a Spicebush but don't quote me on that. Ok, there's one Polydamas eating a leaf right now but the rest seem to be on the stems. I lost another Long-Tailed Skipper and I haven't really gone looking too hard for the rest. I've also lost track of my three baby Spicebushes. I figured they may be holed up molting somewhere but I haven't seen them in two days so I may have to undertake an exploratory mission. Everyone else seems to be doing okay, though.

We're having new carpet installed tomorrow so I'm going to go to the movies because I do not want to be here with all that mess. Plus, I don't like strangers in my house (I think I've mentioned I have social anxiety disorder before). So I'll be hiding out in a dark theater. Right now, I'm mentally preparing myself for the "Game of Thrones" finale. At least I got a pretty good nap in this afternoon and am feeling better. Oh, and my poison ivy rash broke out in blisters suddenly on the parts where it was barely red. And the part that was really red and already blistered dried up and I just sloughed off the dead skin. Lots of hydrocortisone was applied. Be careful out there, folks!

Oh dear I have to start Season 3 yet.

Glen, when you get to the point where you feel traumatized by "Game of Thrones", just know that I will be there for you. I knew tonight's episode was going to be a little longer than usual, but I'm still mad it ran into "Penny Dreadful". I'll have to watch it later. Don't you love this "On Demand" thing? Remember when you had to figure out how to set your VCR for these things? I'm dating myself, there! I should probably go to bed anyway since the carpet men will be waking me up early. Boo!

And just to include some butterfly talk, if any of you newbies feel traumatized when your first Swallowtail caterpillar goes through its gut purge, I will also be there for you. It can be quite shocking. I still have fond memories of a Giant Swallowtail caterpillar that gut purged right as my older brother walked by. He was totally grossed out which totally made my day. Good times.

mellielong said:Terri, that's awesome that you've got Eastern Black STs! You would think we would get them earlier in Florida than you in Illinois, but we've really only had the caterpillars show up in the last three weeks or so. I still wonder what makes them decide to come out of their chrysalis after being in there all winter. Are you bringing your cat inside or leaving it outside? They get eaten by a lot of things which is why I ask. I call them "Herb-Stuffed Caterpillars" since they eat fennel, dill, and parsley (among other things). I figure that probably just makes them taste better to birds which is bad! If you have any questions, feel free to ask away. Caterpillars do some crazy things, and I think Swallowtails are crazier than others so don't be afraid to ask if you don't know something. We all love sharing our knowledge on here!

Thanks Melanie! I kind of think I'd like to bring them inside. We have a three-season room and we open a lot of the windows this time of year. I saw on the internet how one guy had put them inside a plastic basket with narrow slats and they hung themselves from the inside bottom.

can I feed them organic parsley from the grocery store?
What makes Swallowtails crazier than others? Although, I have zero experience with any of them! I planted six Asclepius plants a few weeks ago hoping to host some Monarchs... but that'll be a new experience too.

er... gut purge?

Terri, you have to be really careful even with "organic" food. You see, this is because the pesticide used for caterpillars is technically organic. You'll often see it advertised as BT spray. The BT stands for Bacillus thuringiensis which is a naturally occurring bacteria that kills caterpillars. Basically, it messes up their digestive system, they stop eating, and die. So an organic parsley could be sprayed with that and still be considered organic. That being said, I have fed mine organic parsley from Publix before (but you don't have those grocery stores in Illinois) so it may depend on your local retailer. A farmer's market may be a good place to get it because you can ask the people what they use on their plants. Also, remember that once you pick a plant, it starts losing its nutritional value immediately. So if you feed your cats store bought food you will probably have to feed them a lot more of it and they will grow slower. So just be aware of that.

I think Swallowtails are crazier because they have osmeterium (we commonly call them stinkhorns). It's a reversible gland right behind their head they use to ward off predators. Google it; it's awesome! Black Swallowtails tend to be really quick to use theirs; I think it's because they have less defenses than other Swallowtail cats. I always call them the "meanest" caterpillars because they are so quick to stinkhorn you. And they've really perfected the art of not just sticking them out but rearing backward to smear it on your fingers. Some interesting facts, the stinkhorns are supposed to resemble a snake's tongue. Also, the chemical in them that makes them smell bad is the same chemical that makes rancid butter smell bad. Oh, and Swallowtails vary in how much their stinkhorns stink. I think Spicebushes are the worst. Black STs aren't too bad, but I still have to wash my hands really well if they get me.

Also, Swallowtails get bigger than most caterpillars and they make cool slings and they can overwinter in their chrysalis so they just have a lot more going on, I think. And they're pretty. They're like the rock stars of the butterfly world (at least North America).

The gut purge! When a Swallowtail cat decides it's done eating and ready to make a chrysalis, it will go find a place to settle down first. Then, it will start pooping a lot. Eventually, it does the gut purge which is when it releases all the waste, fluids, and even some internal organs it no longer needs from its body! It's like extreme caterpillar diarrhea. I thought mine was dying the first time I saw it. But it's totally normal. In fact, it's a good sign. After it does the gut purge, it will wander for a few more hours until it finds just the right place to settle down. Then, it builds a sling, and about 24 hours later, makes a chrysalis. We will be happy to help every step of the way!

Oops! Hadn't thought about Bt!

Very interesting, thanks for all the info!
I touched one tonight, but it didn't "stinkhorn" me. However, I got the impression they were going to sleep (this was right before dusk).
Or maybe not all the instars have them?

All the instars have them, but they are small to begin with and of course get bigger as the caterpillar gets bigger. So they can be hard to see at first. I don't think caterpillars ever really "sleep" as we think of it but they do have periods where they seem to chill out. If they're chilling out for a long time they may be molting so don't disturb them. I keep meaning to write a more detailed post on why not to disturb a molting caterpillar (short story - you kill them) but I was going to do it tomorrow. For now, I'm going to bed because the bad carpet men are supposed to be here at 8am. Ugh. My usual wake up time is around noon so you see why this is a problem.

Well, there's only one strange carpet man and I happened to see him pull in when I was picking caterpillar food this morning. Which means I had to do the obligatory "good morning" thing and let me tell you, this man is way too alert and jovial for this early in the morning. Maybe I should have had him get some Starbucks for me because he's clearly been doing espresso shots. Technically, he's not a stranger because he married Mom's church friend last year and I think he goes to church with her, too. But I don't know him so he's strange to me. I actually hear a woman's voice that's not Mom so I think maybe her friend came, too. So I'm definitely going to hide in here (I have my reasons). At least being alert is probably a good trait to have if you're laying carpet. He's only doing three rooms (one of which is not mine but borders mine) so I feel pretty safe in here. To be fair, the house turns 20 in August so that's how old the carpet is. It really does need to be replaced. I just wonder how long this whole process takes. I might rethink the movie thing and go back to bed if he leaves early enough. I woke up at 3:30 (weird dreams) and I've been mostly awake ever since. But I'm ready to go back to sleep and now I can't. Bummer because that Zyrtec I took is really kicking in.

Anyway, I promised a post about molting so here it is. Like I said, I'm running on little sleep and no caffeine yet so if I don't make sense just ask me questions and I'll try to do better the second time around. Now, there comes a special time in every caterpillar's life when he needs to molt (or shed his skin when one kid at MOSI asked me what "molt" meant). This is how they grow bigger; their skin doesn't expand like humans. Caterpillars do this five times during their life (for the most part; I'm sure there are exceptions). Each time they molt we call it an instar. Technically, the first instar is when they're hatched from the egg but after that each molt is an instar except the fifth and final molt which is when they pupate and make a chrysalis.

This is a very critical time in a caterpillar's life where they are very vulnerable! I tell you guys this because I killed my fair share of caterpillars before I figured out what they were doing. When they molt, they find a safe space, lay down a silk pad, attach themselves to it, and stay there for the several hours it takes to molt. I kept panicking, thinking they weren't eating and maybe they couldn't find the food, so I kept moving them and killing them. By the way, with the exception of Monarchs and Polydamas STs, caterpillars don't eat all the time. Ok, I'm even joking a little about the Monarchs and Polydamas. Sometimes I think they just need to rest and digest so don't go bothering them unless you have to (like to clean the cage or show them off to guests).

But even when you have to move them, make sure they are not molting! Here's why. Once the caterpillar attaches itself to that silk pad, it can't move. You see, molting is a lot like trying to take your socks off without using your hands. Imagine that for a second. Just shaking your foot around won't do it because socks fit pretty tight (if not, buy new ones). You have to have something to hold them in place, like your fingers, so you can slide your foot out of the sock. Well, caterpillars don't have fingers. What they do have is silk. They attach themselves to that silk pad, and when they begin to wriggle out of their skin, it's that silk pad that holds the old skin down and allows them to slip out of it. FYI, caterpillars will build their silk pads on a leaf, stem, or most often in my case, the sides of my plastic cage. At the museum, they often do it on the side of the glass aquariums we use. I think they prefer to be vertical when they do it. Maybe gravity helps?

So that begs the question, "Melanie, how do I know if my caterpillar is molting?" This is important and also helps explain why you can't move them once they've started the process. You see, when they molt, their head capsules get really low on their head. The old one actually detaches from the caterpillar but to the human eye it looks like it's just hanging low. I was once collecting cats at MOSI and showed one of the guys on the cleaning crew and he asked me why it looked like it had two heads. He had good eyes for a non-trained person! Here's a picture of a Polydamas I have that's in the process right now.



See that yellowish line right in the middle? That's where his osmeterium come out. Normally, the head capsule is flush against it. But when they molt, the head capsule slips low because it's making way for the new head capsule underneath it. All caterpillars do this (as far as I've seen) even those without osmeterium (I'm just using that as a guide for this species) so learn how your caterpillar normally looks and where his head capsule normally is so you can tell when it lowers. I mean, you should be able to see the new head capsule forming below it as it will pretty much always be paler in color (like in the photo).

Now, the head capsule lowering covers up a very important part of the caterpillar - their spinneret! Some butterfly site I just looked at says the spinneret is on their lower lip but I always think of it like if caterpillars had chins that's where it would be. Either way you want to look at it. I totally just stole this image from Monarch Watch. But I just bought some t-shirts from them so I think we're cool. Plus, I gave them credit!



Remember that silk pad? Once the caterpillar starts the molting process the head capsule lowers and covers up the spinneret! So if you move them they cannot spin another silk pad to attach to! This is why you don't move a molting caterpillar! They won't have that anchor to pull off their skin and they will die trying to molt! The only exception I've ever seen to this rule is the Monarch. I don't know if they're anatomically special or what, but I have seen them be able to spin another silk pad even with a lowered head capsule. But let's not chance it, folks. Just don't move them.

So what if you accidentally knock one down or the other caterpillars knock one down or you just find one laying in the bottom of your tank like my Pipevine ST the other day? The best thing you can do is find some silk. Look around the tank or whatever you've got them in. Some caterpillars are notorious for silking pretty much the entire enclosure so you may get lucky. In my case from the other day, I found where a previous caterpillar had probably spun his silk pad and I took the caterpillar and pressed him against it. It took a few tries, but he stuck and a few hours later he molted. If I had thought harder and not panicked, I would have taken a leaf out of the Spicebush ST's tank because they build silken homes with LOTS of silk. Probably would have worked better. Other things you can try if you're desperate is sticking them to the sticky side of scotch tape (or other tape, I suppose). Or, if you've got the time, just sit there and watch the caterpillar. When he starts moving (kind of undulating) like he's wanting to molt, take your finger and GENTLY press down on his back end. If you can hold down his old skin he can still wriggle free. If you get desperate, take a pin and pin his rear end to something that will hold. Be extremely careful doing this as you only want to pin the old skin and not the new caterpillar forming underneath. That is expert level caterpillar care so only do that if you feel comfortable or are terribly desperate. I've only done that a couple of times, myself.

A caterpillar molts first, and then it will shake off its old head capsule. Often, parts of the caterpillar will appear paler in color, especially the head capsule and their legs (both true legs and prolegs). Here's a couple of images I have of a Gulf Fritillary. As you can see, they are normally an orange cat with black spikes. But after they molt, they are totally orange for a short time until the spikes turn black again. I honestly have no idea why that happens. Like, when that Polydamas in the above picture molts, his head capsule will be that pale color for a little while (like half an hour, maybe) until it goes back to the usual dark brown color you see on the old head capsule.



You can see the old skin behind the Gulf Frit cat is mostly his black spikes. I've had people see this before and think that one caterpillar ate another caterpillar and those are the remains. Nope, that's just where it molted.

Don't ever be afraid to ask what you might think is a stupid question because we've probably had them, too. When I first raised caterpillars, I thought the silk came out of their rear end because that's how spiders seem to do it. I don't know when I learned it was coming from under their mouth but I felt kind of dumb for not knowing that. But unless you read it or someone tells you, it's not like you learn this kind of detail in school. Besides asking us experts, the best way to learn is to simply watch your caterpillars in action. And as much as I like "Game of Thrones", caterpillars are way more interesting than TV. Each species acts a little different than the others which is why I have a goal of trying to raise every species I can get my hands on!

Ok, I just re-read that and I think it mostly makes sense but ask away if you have questions. I'm thinking of sneaking out to the kitchen and maybe making some tea.

Great job! Thank you for even sharing your past mistakes. Very helpful.

Thanks, Terri! I'm glad to be of help. I know we have people of all different levels here and probably a few lurkers (who should feel free to say hi) so I don't ever want anyone to feel like they can't ask something even if they think it's dumb. You're only dumb if you don't ask!

My Spicebush cat is beginning to turn orange which means he'll gut purge soon and make his chrysalis. I took a picture of him about an hour ago and I'll take one in the morning so you guys can see how he changes color. I've been Googling for the last hour or so and I still haven't found anyone that can tell me why a Spicebush cat goes from green to orange when they pupate. Seems like a bad idea - the orange really stands out on a plant! Must be some kind of weird chemical reaction, I guess.

Ok, here's the progression of my Spicebush caterpillar from last night until this afternoon. You remember he was bright green. Now, he's orange!



Here he is this morning testing his position for making a chrysalis. Not in a sling yet.



But I got back from the movies this afternoon and he made his sling! He should be a chrysalis tomorrow. Check out all that silk!



My three Spicebush babies that hatched the other day are mysteriously missing. I think I found part of one of the bodies when I cleaned the tank. I'm trying to not think about it. As for my Spicebush cat that refuses to grow, I'm trying an experiment. He was hatched on Spicebush and ate that for a while, then I switched to Sassafras. I'm offering him Spicebush again but I also put a Camphor leaf in there, too. I don't believe in feeding my caterpillars invasive species but if it will get this guy to grow, I'll do it. I'm sort of interested to see which leaf he eats.

In other caterpillar news, I know my last census of the Pipevine STs said I had eight but somehow I have nine. I have no idea where the one was hiding as none of them are that small. He's lucky I didn't miss him entirely and throw him in the trash!

Now, back to the yard. Every year we get Tussock Moth caterpillars that drop down from the oak trees and eat everything. I saw one on the camphor so I figured I'd take a picture. It's a little late in the year for these guys. Some years they have absolutely covered my house and I've had to go around and "take care" of them if you know what I mean.



This male Monarch was resting on my Spiderwort. I also found a Monarch cat that I moved over to the Giant Milkweed.



And lots of Zebra Longwings around the house, as usual.



And in a final caterpillar check, my Sulphurs are growing but still not showing their identity. The one in this picture is going to molt so maybe he'll tell me who he is soon. I'm betting on Cloudless Sulphur but that's based on nothing but a gut feeling so who knows?

I went shopping and found a mesh trash can (largish office size) that I think would make a good butterfly cage once I come up with some kind of lid. Maybe just some kind of mesh that I can fasten on top. Anyway the sides will let plenty of air through.

(Added) Oh dear, I'm too slow. The two older ones were bright green this morning... now after work I can't find them. Though they seem to have chomped right through a couple of parsley stems.

Either they got eaten, or they've hidden away to pupate. If the latter, are they likely to literally hide? There's a tall sedum plant nearby. If they hid in there, I'd be really lucky to ever find them.

How long does each instar stage last?

As for the younger one, I couldn't find it this morning, but I thought maybe the overnight storm knocked it to the ground. Found it easily after work. I've got it transferred to its cage with a couple extra parsley leaves. How many parsley leaves should I give it per day? Or just check on it every morning and evening and add more fresh ones if it appears to be running low?

When I picked the leaf that it was sitting on, I saw the stinkhorns come out. LOL

Caterpillars can wander very far from their host plant when they want to pupate. Earlier this year I was documenting all the crazy places on my house I was finding Monarch chrysalises. Finding a Swallowtail chrysalis can be very, very hard. They blend in so well. Each instar usually lasts several days with the earlier instars going by faster than the later ones. All in all, they're a caterpillar for at least 2-4 weeks so you can kind of do the math. It can vary of course, depending on how much you feed them and how fresh the food is, etc. I usually feed my caterpillars once a day except the Polydamas are so numerous I'm having to feed them twice. I'd say checking on it each morning and evening is plenty. I get stinkhorned just by opening the lid to the cages. Some caterpillars just have attitude!

My Spicebush cat hasn't eaten either of the leaves yet but as I was typing this he moved and is currently huddled under the Spicebush leaf. We'll see what he chooses...

Well, they were 3rd or 4th instar before I even noticed them so who knows?

I put the remaining one in my cage setup and next thing I know it was trying to jailbreak! It didn't like my setup or I didn't rinse off the cleaning enough or? I put it back outside for now.

This is going to be a long post so get a drink or snack or something. I didn't aim to have a long post today, but lots of things happened and I want to share them with you guys.

First, I went to my therapist appointment this morning and I told myself to put my camera in my bag but I forgot. So naturally, when I pulled in there was a Spicebush ST flying on the plumbago. Luckily, it was nice enough to stick around for a few pictures. You can kind of see it's missing part of a wing.



I finally found the culprit who is laying eggs on my pipevine. It's a Polydamas ST (but I knew that). Just hadn't seen her in action until now. I tried to get a picture with the wings open but this is the best I could do because they literally never stop fluttering their wings.



She calmed down to lay some eggs but still kept her wings fluttering just a bit which is why they're a little blurry. I found three clutches of eggs. You can see two eggs in the picture.



Here's the cluster once she was done.



I walked around to the other side of the fence to check for more eggs but found more caterpillars! They're all living in a small tupperware dish right now with the eggs. I didn't want them getting lost in the big tank with the big caterpillars.



The Zebra Longwings are still out there and still on the firebush.



Saw this extremely fast skipper on the Spanish Needles. BAMONA confirmed that last skipper I saw as a Whirlabout and this guy looks pretty similar, but lots of skippers look similar.



And my faithful Duskywings are also on the Spanish Needles.



There were also the usual Gulf Frits and I even saw a Tiger ST fly through the yard but couldn't get pictures of either. Ok, now we're going to switch to the caterpillar part of today's lesson. I was talking about how when a caterpillar molts their new head capsule and true legs are paler in color than usual. Here you can see it on a Polydamas that just molted. And yes, they always cluster like that for some reason. This morning I had one hanging by his butt and I had to gently place him back on a small piece of pipevine so he could molt. But why they do it with all those other caterpillars in the way? I have no idea.



And here is a better side view of his just-molted body with the skin behind him.



And here's another photo showing the difference between the Pipevine STs and the Polydamas STs. Pipevines have much longer front tubercles. Mom didn't know the difference until I pointed it out. I had the Pipevines out first and she thought they were Polydamas. So I brought them out and showed her the difference. The Pipevine ST is on the left side of my hand.



Sometimes, caterpillars will damage a tubercle and one will be shorter than the other. I see this on Monarchs occasionally but here you can see it on a Pipevine ST. Generally, once it's damaged, it won't grow back even when they molt. It will stay short.



I didn't want to talk about it, but my Long-Tailed Skippers died. They have lousy survival rates in the first place but I also think they require fresh food and a lot of their host plants dry out pretty quick once picked. I was feeding them butterfly pea, but it dried out fast so it's probably part my fault. In the wild, they eat Desmodium spp. which most people around here know as "those seeds that stick to your socks". It doesn't dry out as fast but I don't have much growing anymore since someone has been mowing the area where it used to be. My neighbor had some but a group of workers showed up the other day and totally sheared his yard. I feel bad for the White Checkered Skippers that were laying their eggs out there. Anyway, I was checking the False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) today and saw clear caterpillar activity. Take a look at this picture. Start at the right and you can see a leaf with a little home and progressively larger homes as you move left until the leaf all the way to the left is simply folded over. That's where the caterpillar was.



Now, any caterpillar book will tell you that False Indigo is a host plant for the Southern Dogface and the Silver-Spotted Skipper. I've gotten the Silver-Spotted Skippers a couple of times, but these aren't them. These are Long-Tailed Skippers. They do use things in the bean/pea family so this isn't unheard of but I've grown this plant for at least five years and this is the first time they've ever used it. We also get the similar Dorantes Skipper but I can tell this is a Long-Tailed because of that orange area on his rear end. They're the only ones that have that. The liquid you see on the leaf is where he threw up on me because he was mad I opened up his shelter and he was defending himself.



Here's another leaf shelter I found. There's actually two here, the smaller one on the right and the bigger one on the left that is actually two leaves silked together.



And sometimes, a caterpillar just needs three leaves to feel at home.



Back inside, I inspected the three caterpillars I found. This Long-Tailed Skipper is normal but the other two were molting. You see they can stick out their necks a little. You can also see again how his booty is orange.



Now, this guy is about to molt and you can see his neck and head look very different. This is why it's important to know what your caterpillar looks like normally, so you know when he's either not being normal, or molting.



And if you ever wondered what an empty egg looks like, here you go. This is a Long-Tailed Skipper egg.



That's the last of the pictures, but I wanted to add that my Spicebush experiment showed that the caterpillar preferred spicebush to camphor. He didn't eat any camphor but ate quite a bit of spicebush. I've got some sassafras in there right now. He still doesn't seem to be growing, though.

Not to much happening in my yard today and it's so hot I refuse to go outside unless I have to. I did have to go pick a lot of caterpillar food, but I did that pretty quickly. Anyway, the exciting news is that the Regal Moth eggs I collected on Sunday at MOSI are fertile! Apparently, they're turning dark and you can see the little caterpillars inside. My boss is super happy and freaking her intern out by unleashing her inner child over this news. I have to say, there was some part of me that was worried they wouldn't hatch so I'm so happy they are developing. One of her Facebook friends looked up the caterpillar and posted a picture and then started making "Dune" jokes. It was pretty funny. I just hope I get to see most, if not all, of the process even though I'll be gone on vacation for two weeks next month. I'll only miss two Sundays so maybe some of the caterpillars will grow slower or faster than others and I can experience the whole life cycle. The caterpillars are called Hickory Horned Devils. Here's the picture (click on it to see the whole thing) her friend posted with the caption "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?".



I can't wait to scare, er, educate people at the museum about them!

If the caterpillar is that big, how big is the moth!?

Terri, I posted the picture of the Regal Moth the other day in this post: http://garden.org/thread/view_...

Now, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I have made a mistake. But it kind of turned out to be a good thing. I was sure I had Long-Tailed Skippers on my False Indigo, but they are indeed Silver-Spotted Skippers! I should have known because that's their host plant. But - I've only raised them twice before and I had only collected them when they were quite large. So I had never seen the earlier instars. And many caterpillars look alike, especially when they're small. I still don't know what kind of Sulphurs I'm raising, for example. Plus, I really don't remember Silver-Spotted Skippers having that orange booty. But what is a dead giveaway is the two spots they have on their head capsule. And they didn't have those until they molted last night! So I got my book out and now I'm sure. I can't believe I made that mistake but it's a constant learning process, folks. And like I said, I rarely see these caterpillars and I've never seen them so small so I guess it was easy to make a mistake. Here's what they look like now that they've molted again.