Nature, in her blind search for life, has filled every possible cranny of the earth with some sort of fantastic creature.

~Joseph Wood Krutch

Here are a few more of the fantastical critters from our scouring of the woods and fields for BugFest…

Polyphemus moth caterpillar (click photos to enlarge)

The stars of this year’s caterpillar table were several huge polyphemus moth larvae. We found them on oak, river birch, and red maple this year, and found several on trees at a Chatham County wholesale native plant nursery, Mellow Marsh Farm.

These large larvae are eating machines

I was happy that only one of these eating machines began to pupate before the big day, since it is always a treat to share some of our larger species with the crowds.

Smartweed caterpillar

One of the more striking species we usually find is the smartweed caterpillar. And this year, we actually found it on smartweed (although I think it crawled off to something else when I took this photo), instead of the usual cattail.

Snowberry clearwing

We borrowed a coral honeysuckle plant from a nearby native plant nursery, Cure Nursery, because it was loaded with feeding snowberry clearwing larvae (these become bumblebee mimic day-flying moths). I caught this one right after it shed (you can see the head capsule just under its legs, and the old tail spike lying with the whitish shed skin behind the caterpillar).

Underside of Nason’s slug caterpillar

The slug caterpillar group is one of my favorites because of their bizarre shapes and colors. We had a Nason’s slug in a petri dish and it obliged by sitting upside down all day so people could see why it is called a slug caterpillar (they lack paired abdominal prolegs that other caterpillars have; they glide rather than crawl).

Crowned slug

One of the more fantastical of the group, the crowned slug, is ringed by what look like feathered tentacles armed with stinging spines. These are always a treat to find and share.

Spiny oak slug

One of the most striking in terms of color from this year was this spiny oak slug. It is a species that can be quite variable in color, but all are beautiful.

Smaller parasa

My favorite find was one that didn’t last long enough for other people to enjoy it (it pupated the morning of BugFest). But, to be honest, it probably meant more to me than it would have to a lot of other people. Melissa spotted this (somehow) above our heads on a back lit leaf. When we pulled the branch down to see if it was even a caterpillar she had seen, I knew immediately what it was. I had seen it in the field guide a couple of years ago and had wanted to find one ever since (yup, I am a caterpillar nerd for sure).

Smaller parasa moth from two years ago

That page in the book caught my attention when a small beautiful moth came to my window one night a couple of years ago. The gorgeous green helped me identify it as a smaller parasa moth. But when I saw the caterpillar, I really wanted to find one. Well, two years later…

What a cool caterpillar!

Good things really do come to those who wait.