User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30504
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Please help ID this bug/critter

Doe anyone know what this is?
- It looks caterpillar-ish, has huge compound-looking eyes, so am thinking moth?
- Not apparent, but has sort of forked/pincered end to abdomen....
- it is very skinny though — like thin round bamboo chopstick (maybe 1/4 inch?) unlike most moth caterpillars. Approx 2 inches long.
- It’s on a volunteer fruit treelet — maybe plum or crabapple — I can’t tell at the moment.

Image

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30504
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Closest match I’ve found so far are Double-lined Prominent (not exact match) or possibly THIS Speckled Green Fruitworm ID’d on this page, though mine does not match other photos around the Internet. I came across the page while comparing with other owletmoth caterpillars.

https://www.whatsthatbug.com/category/c ... rs/page/4/
Image

Speckled Green Fruitworm, Orthosia hibisci, a species of Cutworm that is profiled on BugGuide where hosts plants are listed as: “decidious trees and shrubs including: apple, crabapple, cherries, plums, poplar, maple, willow and white birch.”

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30504
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

It was still there today, so I took another photo —
Image

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

can you put it in a jar to see what it turns in to? (in case it turns out to be something you don't want in your garden).



Return to “Wildlife - Gardening with Local Critters in Mind”