Caterpillar Diversity

I wanted to share a few pictures of the caterpillars we have collected thus far on our expedition. In order, they are:

1. Gulf Fritillary - intense black spikes, only eats passion vine, and turns into a reddish-orange butterfly with black markings

2. Bean Leaf Roller Skipper - eats beans and peas, turns into a greenish-blue moth with long bottom wings

3. Io Moth - stinging! (feels like a nettle sting but lasts longer), turns into a yellow and red "furry" moth, eats many things (called a generalist - eats birch, cherry, clover, oak, grasses, etc.)

4. Fall Webworm - another generalist (eats over 400 species of plants), called the "parasitoid hotel" because it is the host for over 50 species of parasitic flies and wasps, turns into a white moth

5. Saddleback Slug Caterpillar - stinging! most potent sting of all North American caterpillars, has spines like a porcupine, very large in size, another generalist (eats apples, corn, grass, maple, oak, blueberries, etc), turns into a brown and tan fat "hairy" moth

Biology students, do you think the caterpillars in the Berkshires are more or less diverse than in Louisiana? How about in Ecuador?

TOP: Our team before heading out to the field.

BOTTOM: Our diverse collection of caterpillars in our lab's rearing "zoo".