Looking for a caterpillar? Check the pictures below and click the link to find out more about a species.

Caterpillars are the larvae of moths and butterflies. They hatch from eggs and immediately start eating the plants they were born on. Most caterpillars only eat certain species of plants. As caterpillars grow, they may change their colors and patterns. Many species of caterpillars look like bird droppings when they first hatch. This helps camouflage them and gives them protection from predators. As they get older, they change. The pictures below mostly show "older" caterpillars, before they change into a pupa.

Eastern Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxenes	Cabbage White Pieris rapae	European Gypsy Moth Limantria dispar	Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth Malacosoma americana
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Pterourus glaucus	Painted Lady Vanessa cardui	Buckeye No Link Junonia coenia	Eight-spotted Forester No Link Alypia octomaculata
Great Spangled Fritillary No Link Speyeria cybele	Hummingbird Moth Hemaris thysbe	Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa	Monarch No Link Danaus plexippus
Question Mark No Link Polygonia interrogationis	Red Admiral No Link Vanessa atalanta	Regal Moth No Link Citheronia regalis	Red-spotted Purple No Link Basilarchia astyanax
Saddleback Caterpillar Moth No Link Sibine stimulea	Silver-spotted Skipper No Link Epargyreus clarus	Tomato Hornworm Moth No Link Manduca quinquemaculata	White-marked Tussock Moth No Link Orgyia leucostigma
Woolly Bear Caterpillar Moth No Link Isia isabella

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Thumbnail Credits:

Monarch (John A. Thomas)

Woolly Bear Caterpillar Moth (David L. Wagner)

Saddleback Caterpillar Moth (Copyright, The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana)

Great Spangled Fritillary (Copyright, Randy Emmitt, www.rlephoto.com )

Buckeye (Copyright Jay Cossey, http://www.images.on.ca/JayC/jc_g1index.htm )

Silver-spotted Skipper (Copyright 1998-2003, Troy Bartlett)

White-marked Tussock Moth (David L. Wagner and Valerie Giles)

Eight-spotted Forester (M. Trudeau/AAC-CRDH)

Tomato Hornworm Moth (R.K.D. Peterson)

Regal Moth (Dr. James L. Castner, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/bfly/regal_moth.htm )

Red-spotted Purple (Dale Clark)

Red Admiral (Copyright Jay Cossey, http://www.images.on.ca/JayC/jc_g1index.htm)

Question Mark (Cornell College)

Cabbage White (Copyright Jay Cossey, http://www.images.on.ca/JayC/jc_g1index.htm )

Hummingbird Moth (David L. Wagner and Valerie Giles)

European Gypsy Moth (Michael Borsch)

Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth (Robert L. Anderson, USDA Forest Service)

Painted Lady (Simon Coombes)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Johnson County K-state Research and Extension Master Gardener, Jacolyn Loyd Goetz)

Mourning Cloak (Paolo Mazzei)

Luna Moth (Bill Welch)

Eastern Black Swallowtail (Copyright Jay Cossey, http://www.images.on.ca/JayC/jc_g1index.htm )