Monday, August 10, 2009

Polyphemus



Polyphemus, the name of a cyclops, means famous. At first I thought this was the caterpillar of a Luna Moth, but those are spottier. This looks to be the last instar of the late summer brood of this variety of Giant Silk Moth (Saturniidae,) and it may winter in its chrysalis. I wish we'd kept it, but we took it to an Oak in Prospect Park, worried that it wouldn't last the hot dry sidewalk of Ft. Hamilton it was about to cross.

After the disappearance of the Parsley Worm our dill plant hosted last week, I don't want to take so many chances with caterpillars anymore, the are too precious. The worms have me wrapped around their fingers. Here's what this beauty will look like if she makes it.

5 comments:

Matthew said...

Beautiful.

amarilla said...

I know, I think she might actually shut me up for a while. Maybe.

Anonymous said...

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CarlD said...

That is an awesome worm. And I love those big moths. A couple years ago we had a huge hatch of lunas - a couple dozen at least over a couple weeks. Turns out they like sweet gum, of which we have a few. They also liked our patio light, and unfortunately the cats liked them.

Wisco said...

Nice photo! I saw this amazing creature in Prospect Park today. Thanks for identifying it.