Caterpillars on the move - American Copper Underwing
Several observations of American Copper Underwing caterpillars have been appearing in the Red River Valley project recently. The light green caterpillar has a distinct hump at its tail end. Here's a way to see all the observations of these caterpillars submitted in the project area so far
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&project_id=red-river-valley-manitoba&term_id=1&term_value_id=6&subview=grid&taxon_id=119340&verifiable=any
The caterpillars are light green and blend in well to their surroundings. They are sought after by birds as food for their growing nestlings. Check out Christian Artuso's great shot of an Eastern Screech Owl doing just that.
These caterpillars overwintered as eggs and have now emerged to eat their way to adulthood. They are known to eat leaves of many plants including apple, basswood, hawthorn, maple, oak, raspberry, viburnums and grape.
Towards the end of June, the caterpillars will roll themselves into leaves and become a pupa. There are no observations of this lifestage on iNaturalist yet (yours could be the first :) ) but here is an image from BugGuide. It is from a series of images created by a person raising a collected caterpillar to adulthood--a strategy used to identify a caterpillar where the only available identification info is for the adult insect.
Sometime in late summer, the adult moths will emerge. Here is a link to view all the adult moths observations in the project area submitted so far.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&project_id=red-river-valley-manitoba&term_id=1&term_value_id=2&subview=grid&taxon_id=119340&verifiable=any
The adult moths are attracted to light and to sugar baits. Some strategies for observing insects using attractants is found on the iNaturalist forum.
Additional info on the species from the University of Alberta Entomology collection at this link (warning scientific terminology :) )
http://www.entomology.museums.ualberta.ca/searching_species_details.php?s=2325
Comments
Thanks for observing this interesting creature :) @akrijan @charmainelyons @joanne243 @librarianjen @emilymckinnon12 @cjchurch @colin_murray @zitkada @rosa_honeybee
Terrific info! I cam across a caterpillar a couple months ago. I have posted the image of the larva and pupa via my app.
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