I hope you continue this thread with more pictures as the cats develop and become butterflies. Will be very interesting to see.

All five of the regal cats are eating eagerly now. Several were in an outstretched position, so I thought it'd be a good time to try and make a better picture. As soon as I started unzipping the cage to take them out, they started curling up. I read up on them, and they reportedly eat at night and stay curled up most of the day. All five of them had eaten big chunks out of their persimmon leaves, which makes me VERY happy!

Anyway, I managed to get these two pictures -

{{gwi:509367}}

{{gwi:509369}}

Sherry

What a strange yet beautiful caterpillar. I wonder why Mother nature created the spine appendages? I have never read up on this butterfly.
Sherry, do you have any other info to share as to the appendages and possible meaning?

The 'stick ups' are called scoli. I've never read anything that gives a reason for them being there, so I assume it's just to make the caterpillar appear ferocious so as to scare away predators. They're harmless to people, don't sting, and I've seen many pictures of people holding the late instar caterpillars in their hands, kids included.

Each instar of this species is different from the others. The scoli are much taller in relation to overall body size in the early instars than they are in the later instars. In the later instars, their body gets thick, and the scoli point backward.

There are many pictures of them on the internet, but I'll be posting pictures of each instar, since they're so unique. The adults are beautiful. Since they only have one flight per year, I won't see the adult moth until next year. I'll have to provide these with a bucket of leaves or paper towels for them to burrow into when they're ready to make their pupa. I'll keep them on the porch unless we have an extremely cold night (like the one last January) and then I'll bring them into my unheated guest room.

I'm getting ahead of myself here, though. They're not the easiest ones to raise, so I don't want to jinx things by talking about their pupae just yet! :)

Sherry

Sherry

Those young cats are so cute with the little black horns
Sticking straight up! They remind me of Troll dolls.

I have seen one adult caterpillar,and it was quite large
And sort of long,too,as I recall.The curved horns just
Behind the head were imposing.All in all quite a spectacular
Cat!

It was feeding on a rather bushy young hickory tree,
And I stood right over it,and touched it.

I saw it in Covington county,a long time ago.

We have abundant Hickory trees in Covington as well
As sister county Coffee.

I have seen the regal(we use the royal walnut name) moth
In both counties.

I am really looking forward to Picts of the cat's progress,
So good luck with them!

DD

Ah, a moth, not a butterfly.. (missed that in your first sentence!)
I have not looked up this insect (with intention) as hoping for a complete thread with all the information right here. So am at you mercy MsSherry.
Besides hickory, does this moth have any other host plants? You call it hard to raise, why?
I have much to learn, I grow plants that I know butterflies and moths love, but really need to polish up to be anything like the true butterfliers here. :)
So glad I stumbled into this forum.

This post was edited by MsMorningSong on Tue, Jul 22, 14 at 7:56

I call them hard to raise, because when I raised them before - I've only raised them once - I had about ?six eggs, only about ?three hatched, and two of those died. I've never had a death rate like that!!! I fed those three pecan, so I'm not feeding them pecan this time, although it's on the list of host plants. I'm feeding them persimmon, because I found two of them on persimmon when I first got interested in butterflies, but, for some strange reason, I didn't want to raise them. Maybe it was because they looked so menacing, and I was a newbie at the time. Then, a friend of mine brought me a late instar cat that she'd found underneath a persimmon tree, so I assume it was also eating persimmon. Since that seems to be the local favorite, I'm going with persimmon.
There are many other trees they use, though. Sweetgum, sumac, even sassafras and buttonbush are said to be used.
These cats are eating the persimmon heartily, pooping plentifully, so everything is going well with these five. Maybe I just got a bad batch before, maybe they're not really hard to raise. Maybe they're just as easy to raise as lunas! :)

Sherry

I was a young girl and had snuck outside...the great and beautiful Luna was dancing around the porch light.
That was my last encounter with this huge, soft, silk-like being.
Thank you for introducing me to someone I have not seen since living up north. Your neighbor is a great friend indeed, wish she lived next door to me :)

This post was edited by MsMorningSong on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 19:00

The regals are growing and changing. I still think there's no caterpillar like a hickory horned devil!

{{gwi:509371}}

Sherry

Here's another picture of one of the hickory horned devils -

{{gwi:509373}}

And I can't ignore the luna moths. Here's a picture of one of them eating -

{{gwi:509376}}

Sherry

This post was edited by misssherry on Wed, Jul 30, 14 at 16:39

Wow,your devils are way ahead of mine,Sherry. Must be due to the warmer temps there and also the foodplant you're using.

I've been meaning to send you a picture of them, Dan, but didn't get around to it.

They all molted simultaneously yesterday (!) then, after they ate their skin (and what weird skin!) started eating again last night. I'll be posting another picture in the next day or so.

Sherry

The first of the caterpillars on the willow emerged today, and it was a female red-spotted purple - I guess that means that the other two are also, so I didn't get viceroys.

I think the regal moth caterpillars are in their last instar. Their color is different from the way I remember them in the past, but then this is the first time I've fed them persimmon. Their heads show the typical aqua color with red parts, but their bodies look olive green, different from what I remember -

{{gwi:509379}}

Sherry