Some of my friends of Facebook think that I make up the name of some of the insects whose pictures I post. After all, can there really be an insect called the Handsome Meadow Katydid? Normally, the official names are so strange that there is no need to invent new ones.
Today, however, I decided to make up a name for a caterpillar that my friend Cindy Dyer helped me identify earlier in the summer, when I did a posting entitled Patterned Caterpillar. The caterpillar’s real name is a Cattail caterpillar (Simyra insularis) and I photographed it this weekend at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, VA.
This caterpillar’s black-and-white patterns are such a perfect match for those ubiquitous markings found on all products that I want to rename it as the Barcode caterpillar. What would register if you scanned this caterpillar at the checkout counter at a store?
Cattail caterpillar (Simyra insularis)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I believe it says “eats cattails” 🙂
Your name is definitely better.
It would direct you to a caterpillar support website: instructions for how to build a Chrysalis, (with an optional e-reader to pass the season while he’s just hanging out) a metamorphosis support group, and lessons on flying.
(p.s. it’s been a crazy month…I’ve missed sharing your humour in your posts!)
Welcome back. I figured you were busy. It’s nice knowing there’s someone out there that “gets” my warped sense of humor.
LOL! Great answer! And great picture, Mike!
[…] fact that its black and orange colors seemed perfectly appropriate for Halloween. (In a previous posting about this species, it was the pattern of the caterpillar that was its most notable […]
Nature, as usual, way ahead of us mere humans. Great for us that you pay attention to what’s around you out there. Thanks!