Underwing Moth Caterpillar

Amazing spotting, Britt. Congratulations on your SOTW. That last photo in particular shows its full camouflage ability. Excellent.

Congratulations Britt!

Congrats on earning SOTW! :D

Woohoo! Well deserved SOTW. Congratulations.

Congratulations on a well deserved SOTW Britt!!! Wonderful series. Thank you for sharing :)

Wow, SOTW with your first submission. Congratulations Britt. I look forward to more great spottings.

Awesome spotting Britt,perfect series,congraats on the well deserved SOTW and thanks for sharing

Congratulations Britt! Outstanding spotting!

You've done it Britt! In a week with tough competition your master of camouflage has been voted Spotting of the Week! Congratulations! Not a lichen! This Ilia underwing moth caterpillar (Catocala ilia) has been voted Spotting of the Week! Mottled green and black with small dorsal bumps, this caterpillar shows a cryptic color pattern that matches lichens on oak branches. Our new member Britt J wrote: "This stunning caterpillar was spotted first on a lawnmower tire, but when I carefully relocated it to an oak branch it began imitating the lichen on the branch. It doesn’t move much unless disturbed, when quickly flips its head back to expose a beautiful lavender and pink underside as a warning". Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/photos/pb.10150120463815603.-2207520000.1556563078./10161762534745603/?type=3&theater Twitter: https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/1122932828294057984

Very nice series and a remarkable imitation of lichen.

Cool spotting, Britt! Your shots illustrating its behavior are really nice. Welcome to Project Noah!

Glad you found us Britt!

Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated BrittJ, and welcome again to Project Noah!

Awesome.

This is unbelievably fantastic...it really looks like the lichen. Super mimicry. Thank you for sharing.

Incredible cattie and great series too. Welcome and thanks for sharing this one.

wow

Hello BrittJ and Welcome to the Project Noah community! We hope you like the website as much as we do. There are many aspects to the site and community. The best way to get started is to read the FAQs at http://www.projectnoah.org/faq where you can find all the tips, advice and "rules" of Project Noah. You, like the rest of the community, will be able to suggest IDs for species that you know (but that have not been identified), and make useful or encouraging comments on other users' spottings (and they on yours). There are also "missions" you can join and add spottings to. See http://www.projectnoah.org/missions . A mission you should join is the https://www.projectnoah.org/missions/2194946003 to chose the "best wildlife photo of 2019",only the spottings added to that mission are eligible.Note that most missions are "local". Be sure not to add a spotting to a mission that was outside of mission boundaries or theme :) Each mission has a map you may consult showing its range. We also maintain a blog archive http://blog.projectnoah.org/ where we have posted previous articles from specialists from different geographical areas and categories of spottings, as well as wildlife "adventures". So enjoy yourself, share, communicate, learn. See you around :)

Amazing, Britt.