Last evening when I was heading downstairs to feed the dog I saw something on one of the lime tree leaves. It looked like bird poop but it was moving, it was a caterpillar. I have to say that this fellow was pretty homely (read ugly) as far as caterpillars go. I did a search online (I am not going to say what I typed into the search box) to see if I could find out something about him. I found out he is called an "Orange Dog" caterpillar and that he would "grow up" to be an Asian?? Swallowtail Butterfly. They eat the leaves of citrus trees, hence his presence on the lime tree. Apparently when the caterpillars are this age they have a "juvenile" hormone that makes them look like bird poop and protects them from becoming bird food. Once they get too big to pass for bird poo, they turn green and make like a leaf. Isn't nature amazing?
Below is a picture of an Asian Swallowtail Butterfly (swiped from the web); but I am not sure if it is this type of Swallowtail that the caterpiller turns into. We have never seen butterflies like that around here.
This type below, we have seen here. I don't know, but he will survive to turn into something I am sure, as nothing would eat anything that looks the way he does. Blech!
