#giant swallowtail caterpillar

[cool-bug-posts]

Giant swallowtail caterpillar living on my lime tree!!

[lonely-dog-song]

THE BIRDSHIT CATERPILLAR GOT REALLY BIG

wow............. I wonder who could have done this...................

[rjalker]

I accidentally scared a caterpillar while I was just trying to have my hand for scale. I didn't realize these guys have the little tentacle things that pop out to scare birds.

[Image description start. Two photographs of a lemon tree with a Giant Eastern swallowtail butterfly caterpillar on one of the leaves, which it has mostly eaten. The caterpillar is modeled brown and white to camouflage it as bird poop. In the first photo, a finger is being held up near the caterpillar for scale, showing it is around the size of the first joint, in the second photo the hand has moved away, and the caterpillars threat display of two red tentacle like structures on its head can be seen, which are just starting to unfurl in the first photo. Image description end.]

[onenicebugperday]

(Submissions aren’t working for me, no ID needed)

I raised some giant swallowtails this summer! The caterpillars were being evicted from a small plant they were killing, but they were so close to pupating that I decided to keep em safe until they did. I fed them clippings from my orange tree, and ended up releasing four butterflies a couple weeks later! They stuck around my yard for the duration of their lives, it was so cool having them around :)

They are beautiful! Hope they went on to live happy butterfly lives and make one million babies...

[bogleech]

Have you ever thought about doing mortasheen monsters based off of more obscure caterpillars? like the puss moth, lobster moth caterpillar, snake mimic caterpillar, saddleback caterpillar, I think these would make interesting bug-human hybrids

That's what I originally did! The first Mortasheen caterpillar was a saddleback because those were my favorite caterpillars growing up, though over the course of a few years I kept adding more typical caterpillar features to it, and it morphed into being themed around a swallowtail larva because that felt like a good "default" caterpillar to have in reference to Caterpie

Later I added a monkey slug caterpillar:

A puss caterpillar and easiest design in the setting:

An inchworm:

And a bagworm:

I'm still fond of all of these but they might have to be retooled a little now that the default caterpillar in the ttrpg is a big giant beast. These were all imagined more as little bitty guys. Inchworms at least do generally stay tinier than most other caterpillar species so that makes sense at least. In another reference to Pokemon I might aim to add a different caterpillar and an adult lepidopteran counterpart in every new wave of published monsters. It's important to reiterate for those unfamiliar that Mortasheen Arthropoids don't metamorphose of course. A monster made from the larva of an insect comes out a different species from the adult insect :)

[brigamia]

BEHOLD, MY BUG COLLECTION

Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta) caterpillars, tomato and non-tomato diet

Eight-spotted Forester (Alypia octomaculata) caterpillar and moth

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) butterfly

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Giant Vietnamese Centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes)

[m00nboys]

I got inspired by @alexmey-does-an-arts giant bug world. Details on each under the cut.

Not intended to be a specific type of bee, I just think they’d be fun to snuggle with.

I feel like snails would do the thing Ash’s muk in Pokemon does.

House centipede. They are unfortunately too big to hide under rugs in this world.

Black swallowtail caterpillars have an orange crest that pops out of their head as a defense mechanism. I like the idea of them using this as the bug equivalent of dogs barking every time someone walks by the house.

I lost track of the specific nudibranch species I used for this one, but it was one of the types that looks a bit “llama-shaped” to me.

Flies in the genus condylostylus are so pretty and shiny and I could totally see fly-shows becoming a thing.

Acorn weevil. I don’t think enough people appreciate the tiny mouths at the end of those snoots.

[adobe-outdesign]

Just realized I don't think you've reviewed the Caterpie line? From what I've seen at least.

A lot of gen 1 Pokemon are just real-world animals with basically no changes, and the same applies to caterpie. There are a few different caterpillars it could be based on, but my mind goes straight to the Spicebush Swallowtail, which is also green with large eyespots and osmeterium (osmeterium are the red antennae; the 'dex mentions these are smelly, which is also accurate to IRL caterpillars. They're yellow on Spicebushes but red in other species).

And... yeah, that's about all there is to say about it. I like how the rings on the body match the eyes and the colors are nice, but otherwise, it's pretty forgettable if you know what it's based on.

Though as a side note, I kind of wish Caterpie and Metapod had been purple to match Butterfree. It would've given them a little something more unique and increased the coherency of the line.

Metapod is also just straight-up a real crysalis with few changes other then the eyes being outside the shell instead of inside. (Pictured: Spicebush Swallowtail chrysalis).

And yeah, nothing to really say about it beyond that. It exists, that's for sure.

Butterfree is thankfully a more original design, at least to a degree; the wings kind of look like either a Rice Paper Butterfly or a Black-Veined White, but thankfully it doesn't straight-up copy either of them entirely. (Though side note: the vein pattern in Butterfree's wings is surprisingly accurate.)

The face is also cute, sporting compound eyes and little fangs. It doesn't look too much like the rest of the line unfortunately—maybe the rumors about it and Venonat being switched at some point early on are true, or maybe it's just Dragonite syndrome kicking in. Still, while Butterfree's not that exciting, it's at least more interesting than it's pre-evos.

Gigantamax Butterfree is the best in the line as far as I'm concerned. There's not a whole lot to work with due to the line having no real theme, but it ends up really emphasizing that flying typing by gaining absolutely massive wings in what's probably a Mothra reference.

The giant wings are not only more interesting visually and give it something distinct compared to other assorted butterfly and moth 'mons, but I also really like the fact that they now have green edging; this fixes the problem the line had previously with Butterfree being completely different color-wise. I also love the details of the scales falling in the animation, the little swallowtail tails added to the ends of the wings, and the more intricate pattern. Likewise, the the longer green antennae work well with the wings and the scalloped pattern in the center emphasizes the body. It's nothing overly fancy in terms of concept, but it's a good improvement over the original and quite pretty looking.

Overall, this line is fine but kind of bland, both due to lack of a theme and because everything is almost 1:1 with real insects save for Butterfree to a degree. Butterfree's g-max design is the only real standout, having a pretty design with large wings that makes it more memorable than anything else here.

[cryptid-of-ohio]

most and least edible butterflies?

That’s a pretty good question. I had to put in a bit of research to get what I think are the objectively correct answers (I’ll give subjective answers too).

First, a few ground rules. I will only be looking at the adult stage’s edibility. My objective answers will be based off my research, while my subjective will be whatever the hell I want. I have never personally eaten a butterfly, so some of my reasoning will be based on assumptions. Anywayssss

The objective least edible is pretty easy actually. It’s the African Giant Swallowtail, which produces a cardiosteroid and could potentially kill a human if ingested.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Also, fun fact, no one has published what the caterpillars look like, or what the host plant is for this species. So that’s a neat little mystery.

As for the objectively most edible butterfly, that’s a bit more subjective. For edibility, I’m looking for no poison (obviously), as it tastes bad even if it’s not lethal. I’m also looking for a larger main body since that is where most of the nutrients will come from.

I think a good butterfly that fits those criteria would be the Western Tiger Swallowtail.

Some of you may suspect it’s poisonous due to its bright color pattern, but it isn’t. Its colors are a false warning to predators to stay away.

I will say though, if you really want to eat a butterfly I would remove the wings, or avoid them. The scales that coat them are made of keratin, aka the stuff our hair and fingernails is made of, which isn’t very tasty.

Anyways, now on to the subjective stuff. I think the least edible butterfly is the glass wing butterfly.

I mean, look at it! If it were a human it would be so emaciated! There’s nothing tasty there to eat! Not to mention, it’s also poisonous! 0/10 would not recommend eating

As for most edible, I have to go with one that might surprise you.

This is the Harvester Butterfly. It may look small and unassuming, but that’s not why I picked it for the most edible. I picked it because it’s going to be full of different nutrients than other butterflies.

See, the Harvester is unique in its eating habits. As an adult it doesn’t usually drink nectar, instead drinking minerals from the ground or sap. This is because they got most of their nutrients as a caterpillar where their diet was…

Other bugs!! That’s right! This is the only species of carnivorous butterfly on the planet. Their diet as caterpillars is almost entirely made up of eating aphids and the remains of other bugs. It also means that is isn’t poisonous, as most butterflies become poisonous by eating poisonous plants in the caterpillar stage.

I hope this satisfies your curiosity @json-derulo

[sidhewrites]

so many lesser known animals really are just straight up pokemon i swear

i mean there's the ones that were obviously inspirations such as the caterpie line and swallowtail butterflies irl

(Linking images in case anyone is afraid of insects. Here's the caterpillar using its "horns" as a way to intimidate potential predators, and here's a swallowtail chrysalis which obviously inspired metapod)

but there's so many more? like the rock/normal-type bat eared fox with it's tiny head and giant ears.

And nudibranchs (sea slugs) are all over the place. I know we already have gastrodon and shellos, but what about everyone's favorite, the grass/water-type sea sheep slug

or the leeetle dragon-type spanish shawl

Not to mention the countless different rock/water-type frogfish around the world, with their modified pectoral fins to let them walk or hop across the sea floor

And what about a little numbat? leetle guy! eats bugs!

or my favorite guy ever, the flying-type long-eared jeroba! You know he uses his ears to fly.

And who could forget everyone's favorite bird pokemon, the greater lophorina with his normal, attack, and defense forms?

Insects below the cut!

Or how about some of the more colorful species of slug moths?

The caterpillars are no less wild. Here are a few different slug moth species in their caterpillar stage

Plus the tiny and adorable thorn bugs

[todaysbug]

November 3rd, 2023

Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)

Distribution: Found across the United States, up to southern Canada and down to Mexico, Jamaica and Cuba.

Habitat: Mainly found in deciduous forests and citrus orchards.

Diet: Adults feed on nectar and the liquid from animal waste; plants fed on include lantana, azalea, bougainvillea, soapwort, dame's rocket, goldenrod, Japanese honeysuckle and milkweed. Caterpillars feed on the leaves of plants in the citrus family.

Description: The giant swallowtail's larva is also called the orange puppy due to the fact that it's a pest of citrus trees, including orange trees. In order to protect itself from predators, the caterpillar camouflages itself by imitating the appearance of bird or lizard poop. If this doesn't fool a predator, it has a trick up its sleeve—or more accurately, its head; it can deploy an osmeteria, which is a brightly-colored Y-shaped growth, whose appearance is often accompanied by a strong, foul odour. This only really works to startle smaller predators, though, such as lizards and other insects.

Due to global warming, the giant swallowtail's range has gradually expanded northward. However, they're still only able to overwinter in areas of the deep south. They can be spotted fairly easily—adults have a wingspan of up to 19 centimetres, making the giant swallowtail the largest butterfly in North America!

(Pictures by D. Gordon E. Robertson and Lanare Sevi)

[kas-e]

Two of my favorite caterpillar sessions, both in their natural habitat in North Florida. The First species pictured here I've never been quite sure of, so if anyone knows please leave it in the comments. I found these in woodlands, often crawling around on wooden railings. Quiet a large and long species, relatively speaking. The second one here is pretty well known, and common, so that ID I'll include below.

Papilio cresphontes Cramer, Adult giant swallowtail, 

Everything is shot with Nikon Gear, D300 paired with either my 28mm Nikkor reverse mounted or a Sigma 105EX on tubes. Flash is boosted with a diffuser.

[frekkicreative]

Look at this weird caterpillar I found! It's a Giant Swallowtail.

[gardenofsustenance]

Me and the giant swallowtail caterpillar at work on this first Saturday of October 2019.

[ritzy-biscuit]

I found a Giant Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar today!

I tried to antagonize it to show me it’s osmeterium but it was too chill and just wanted to eat. Lol. It made me feel like a jerk for picking on it XD

How neat is that “face” right? I think it’s supposed to be a snake (which looks more so when the osmeterium is out), but to me it looks like a gecko.

Also I named it Jabba.

[onenicebugperday]

@officialmisterrose​ submitted: Hi! I like in (remove pls) [removed] and wanted to know what kind of worm or caterpillar this is

A cute one!! Are they still alive? Hope so! Anyhoo it’s an eastern giant swallowtail :)