Caterpillars are starting to appear on plants as the butterfly life cycle gets underway for many species. Caterpillars are harder to see, which leaves us with fewer chances to practice ID. Here are two caterpillars you may see around.
Which caterpillar is the Cabbage White? (sizes not to scale)
The one that is on my broccoli. haha.
Click below to reveal the answer to this week’s quiz.
While you’re out butterflying, take a closer look at host plants you come across. You might just find some of these caterpillars munching away.
Eastern Pine Elfin are spring fliers, emerging as early as the end of April. Keep an eye on their preferred host plants - hard pines such as Pitch Pine and Red Pine and occasionally Eastern White Pine. You might have a difficult time finding their eggs, which are laid singly on the new growth of young conifers, or the caterpillars, which feed on needles for the rest of the summer and use their stripes to blend in with their surroundings. The adults will generally peter out by July but the caterpillars will be around until the fall when they pupate to overwinter.
Cabbage White can be seen almost every month in Vermont (they will eclose indoors when they get the opportunity). Their preferred host plants are in the mustard family, of which there are 79 species in Vermont, although, as Kent mentioned, you are mostly likely to see them in the garden on your brassicaceous plants like cabbage, kale, bok choy and broccoli. Their small green caterpillars can be found munching on the underside of leaves. Due to their pest status and widespread range, they are an incredibly well-studied butterfly. One particular plant that they host on is the non-native plant, Garlic Mustard. Cabbage Whites, also non-native, have evolved with this plant in their natural Europe, giving them resistance to their chemical defenses. Cabbage Whites are suburban butterflies, happy to live in habitats typically considered “degraded”. They first appeared in North America in Quebec, Canada in the 1860s and have been expanding in their native range as well.
Eastern Pine Elfin by Larry Clarfeld (iNaturalist)
Cabbage White by Rain (confetticoyote, iNaturalist)
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