Variable Checkerspot caterpillars on California Figwort
Spiders aren't the only ones! These are caterpillars of a Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona) butterfly on a native plant of California Figwort aka California Bee Plant (Scrophularia californica, Scrophulariaceae) the woods a couple of days ago. The caterpillars are quite social when they first emerge, and they make communal nests of webbing to shroud their host plant as they feed. They are web-spinners, and they eat the leaves as they cover them with their shroud-like webbing. They will feed into the summer, and then they form tough skins and drop to the forest floor to over-winter. Finally they emerge, eat and get fat, and pupate into adults next year. Tents now mean butterflies next year. Usually I find these caterpillars of "scrophs" -- plants that were once placed in the Scrophulariaceae plant family like Climbing Penstemon and Bush Monkeyflower. Happy Web Webnesday! (San Marcos Pass, 14 July 2025)
Variable Checkerspot caterpillars on California Figwort
Spiders aren't the only ones! These are caterpillars of a Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona) butterfly on a native plant of California Figwort aka California Bee Plant (Scrophularia californica, Scrophulariaceae) the woods a couple of days ago. The caterpillars are quite social when they first emerge, and they make communal nests of webbing to shroud their host plant as they feed. They are web-spinners, and they eat the leaves as they cover them with their shroud-like webbing. They will feed into the summer, and then they form tough skins and drop to the forest floor to over-winter. Finally they emerge, eat and get fat, and pupate into adults next year. Tents now mean butterflies next year. Usually I find these caterpillars of "scrophs" -- plants that were once placed in the Scrophulariaceae plant family like Climbing Penstemon and Bush Monkeyflower. Happy Web Webnesday! (San Marcos Pass, 14 July 2025)