osmeterium's Favorites

Found 6/12/2023 as a pre-molt on blueberry, but after molting accepted witch hazel
Molts: 6/13
Wandered: 6/20 and turned more yellow
Pupated: 8/17
Emerged: 9/28
I am basing the identification on the adult, which seems to have straighter AM and median lines than I would expect from a mustard sallow. If you have a better method for distinguishing the two species, please let me know.

Found 8/10/2022 dangling from my living room ceiling. It was very, very small. It accepted oak.
Made cocoon: 9/1/2022
Hopefully it emerges this year. This ID is my best guess, based on the caterpillar's similarity to these photos: https://bugguide.net/node/view/963740/bgimage

Update 6/23: The pupa dried out over the winter, but I sent it out for DNA sequencing

Found on scrub oak in a shelter 5/15/21
Made cocoon 5/22/21
Adult emerged on or around 6/14/21
I check my pupae every day, but I fear that I may have overlooked this one because the adult blended in so well with the dried up leaf.

Maybe C. sevir or C. formosella? There isn’t much info, even on Bugguide, and I can only find one larval image for C. formosella. I don’t know if it is possible to ID to species with photos of the adult. Any information you can give me is welcome.

I found this caterpillar in wet, packed leaves on the edge of my garden. It is eating the leaf litter. I am guessing that it is an idia moth or some kind of litter moth. I will rear it and photograph the adult. It has created a loose tunnel/network of silk in its enclosure, which it tends to stay under as it feeds. It flails around when touched. It has some subtle dorsal striping on the last few abdominal segments.
Found 4/28/21
Pupated 5/16/21
Cocoon had a layer of frass and leaf fragments
Emerged 6/5/21
I can’t seem to find any photos of Hypsopygia olinalis larvae to compare. All I can find is that they are recorded on oak. I found this caterpillar in dead oak leaf litter, which it ate, but it also ate other dead leaves placed in its container.

This is a caterpillar in a pupae made with bits of leaves. It might have fallen from the northern red oak tree branch above. It was suspended by a thread. We held a piece of paper behind it to take the picture.