THIS IS THE STAGE BEFORE THE SNOWBERRY CLEARWING CATERPILLAR PUPATES.





THESE ARE ALL THE STAGES OF THE SNOWBERRY CLEARWING CATERPILLARS.

Caterpillars

Earlier in the week we noticed that there were caterpillars all over our pink honeysuckle bush, and we think that they are hummingbird moths. We caught some and put them in my butterfly cage to observe them easier.So far we have learned that they are black when they hatch from their egg. As they get older they turn a light green color. When they are about to pupate they turn a beautiful pink color. We looked at some of their poop under a microscope, and found it very interesting. I went to check on them this morning and their poop changed from black to yellow. I think that they changed their diet. We found one that was still black, and it has gone from 1 1/2 cm, to 2 1/2 cm, all in one night! They sure do poop a lot!

August, 29 2007

This morning I did some research, and found some really interesting facts! They are not hummingbird moth caterpillars, they are snow berry clear wing caterpillars.
Their scientific name is Hemaris diffinis. The adult is sometimes called a bumblebee moth, and the moths are often confused with hummingbird moths. They don't pupate until the fall. We are running out of honeysuckle and that is the only plant they eat! I cant wait until they pupate.

September 1, 2007

Today I measured the little black one again, and it is 1 1/2 inches long. We also discovered that some of the pink ones have made a little net in the corners of the cage. We think that they are their chrysalis. The nets are a kind of reddish color. We don't know if the caterpillars are going to metamorphoses. They sure do eat a lot of honeysuckle. I have to fill their cage up with more honeysuckle once every other day. They keep on falling off of the leaves and start wriggling on the floor so I keep having to put them back on the twigs. I researched some on caterpillars body parts, and I learned that they have twelve eyes. Six on each side of their head, and that they have 13 body segments. The scientific term for Caterpillar poop is frass.

September 5, 2007

Now there are three little nets in the cage. It looks like the caterpillar inside the net is forming a chrysalis. The stuff is really sticky I could tell because it built it's net around a twig and I tried to pull it out but I did not want to hurt the caterpillar so I left it there.
I researched the Classification System.
KINGDOM - ANIMAL
PHYLUM - ANNELIDS
CLASS - INSECTA
ORDER - LEPIDOPTERA
FAMILY - LIMACODIDAE
GENUS - ACHARIA
SPECIES - SNOW BERRY CLEAR WING CATERPILLARS



SEPTEMBER 12,2007


I researched what eats a caterpillar. Caterpillars camouflage to hide from predators so they won't get eaten. Some caterpillars don't have great camouflage while some do. There is one caterpillar whose camouflage looks like bird droppings. Some have fake eyes on their heads to scare away birds, reptiles and mammals such as armadillos, shrews and other pesky animals. everywhere you look outside there is probably a caterpillar hiding.