Alerted by the frass at my feet, I looked up into the maple tree branches over my head. It didn’t take me long to locate the source of the frass. Two green-striped mapleworms.

Frass is caterpillar poop. If you enjoy finding caterpillars it’d be wise to keep an eye out for frass. If there’s frass on the ground, there’ll be a caterpillar, or a group of caterpillars, feeding above.

Green-striped mapleworms are the caterpillars, or larvae, of rosy maple moths. The rather small moths, which are marked with pink and yellow, are quite attractive. I don’t have a photo, but allow yourself a treat and have a peek at this pair at BugGuide.Net.

The caterpillars feed on maples and box elder (ashleaf maple). The one pictured here is on red maple.