Tawny emperor caterpillar on hackberry, Lizard Tail Swamp, by Will Kerling.
Will Kerling’s photo of a tawny emperor caterpillar this week (5/25) at Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve following Pat Sutton’s photo of mourning cloak cats in her backyard last week (5/20 — see post below) makes a timely reminder that hackberry is one heck of a host plant.
David Wagner in his Caterpillars of Eastern North America lists hackberry as host to twenty lepidotera, including six butterfly species: American snout, question mark, mourning cloak, hackberry emperor, tawny emperor, and Empress Leilia (a southwestern butterfly). Wagner also details the ID marks that separate tawny emp cats from hackberry cats — which can be seen in Will’s photo: “blue-green middorsal stripe usually continuous” and “long antlers” on head. The caterpillar above is moving to the left. (Click photo to enlarge.)
The tawny emperor cats were originally found at Lizard Tail on May 20th by TNC’s Ellen Creveling. See our log for details on these and other recent caterpillar finds.
Seems like those of us interested in caterpillars might want to search out some hackberry trees in our own stomping grounds to see what we can find. Even a strike-out on the butterflies might lead to a cool sighting: several of the hackberry-using cats Wagner lists are eye-catching, including the spiny oak slug, the Io moth, and several tussock moths.
For more on hackberry trees:
Photos and info about hackberry from Illinois Wildflowers (website of Dr. John Hilty)
USDA Plants Profile of hackberry (click on thumbnails for useful diagrams and photos for ID)
Happy Hunting!
jc