Datana in the Birch

It’s caterpillar time. Although you can see caterpillars munching and crawling about the landscape from March to October, now is the time when you’ll encounter more of them in both numbers of individuals and diversity of species. Daily, people approach me with smartphone images, or even live caterpillars in their hands, asking “what is this?” Sometimes I know what it is, other times I don’t. Fortunately, if I don’t immediately recognize what it is they hold in their hands or haveRead more

More Fall Sightings

Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths, and their larvae, will continue to be active into October and beyond. Here’s a few species I saw last week. I came across two species that I either hadn’t seen before or hadn’t previously witnessed perform a particular behavior. I’ve seen many datanas here in the outdoor areas of the Museum, but I don’t recall seeing an Angus’ datana (Datana angusii) before. If you don’t already know, datanas are caterpillars of small brown moths. I typically see either yellow-neckedRead more