Pale Swallowtail caterpillar on California Coffeeberry
Here is another good-sized caterpillar of a Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon) butterfly on a leaf of California Coffeeberry (Frangula californica, Rhamnaceae) in the woods today. This is a different shrub from where I was finding these caterpillars back in June, see this photo. Those caterpillars disappeared and are probably butterflies by now, so I was happy to find this new one somewhere else in the woods today. Hah, just by chance I happened to find a new "bird turd" stage caterpillar in that other shrub that looks like this one. Note that the caterpillar in my photo today has a cushion of webbing like they always seem to have - something to hang on to? (San Marcos Pass, 2 August 2020)
Pale Swallowtail caterpillar on California Coffeeberry
Here is another good-sized caterpillar of a Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon) butterfly on a leaf of California Coffeeberry (Frangula californica, Rhamnaceae) in the woods today. This is a different shrub from where I was finding these caterpillars back in June, see this photo. Those caterpillars disappeared and are probably butterflies by now, so I was happy to find this new one somewhere else in the woods today. Hah, just by chance I happened to find a new "bird turd" stage caterpillar in that other shrub that looks like this one. Note that the caterpillar in my photo today has a cushion of webbing like they always seem to have - something to hang on to? (San Marcos Pass, 2 August 2020)