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Caterpillar

Photo by Vin Zael
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Huge caterpillar! not sure if it a butterfly or moth caterpillar!

Habitat:

broad leaf rain forest (in the cockscomb basin wildlife sanctuary)

Notes:

is lazy to google what it is, i tried but doesnt what exactly to look for!

Species ID Suggestions

Imperial Moth (larva)

Eacles imperialis

Reference Link
Jacob Gorneau
0

Walnut Moth larva

Genus Citheronia
KristenGilpin
1

Comments (7)
KristenGilpin
I raise caterpillars for a living in Florida and curate a butterfly garden at a museum :) http://lepcurious.blogspot.com/ The most important part of raising caterpillars is figuring out what they eat and where to find that plant. After that you just need to keep their habitat clean and their temp and humidity ideal and steady.
Vin Zael
you are into your caterpillars! i found this one on the ground and was wondering from which tree it fell and how come no bird has seen it, i almost stepped on it and was amazed by it size, i have seen odd looking ones but first time one this big, and that is because am from Belize where this creatures are in the bunches (different ones i mean). I once tried raising a single caterpillar two years ago, but was unsuccessful, it got away from my little box.
KristenGilpin
Basically they are a super cool looking caterpillar in the Wild Silk Moth family. The younger caterpillars have very, very tall horns that get smaller as they grow. The older caterpillars like the one you photographed just have little nubs left after all of their sheds. I have raised a bunch of the Hickory Horned Devil here in the States and they are one of my favorite caterpillars.
Vin Zael
oooooooooh! that's a lot to take in!!! but tnx for the info!
KristenGilpin
Unfortunately the late instars of the Citheronia larvae are hard to distinguish between species. There are about a half dozen species that can be found in Central America: Citheronia azteca Citheronia beledonon Citheronia lobesis Citheronia mexicana Citheronia pseudomexicana Citheronia splendens This link might be helpful: ftp://193.166.3.2/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/bombycoidea/saturniidae/ceratocampinae/citheronia/index.html
Vin Zael
so it's a moth caterpillar? tnx for the suggestion
Photographed
PublishedAugust 3, 2011

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