Comments for White fuzzy caterpillar (Salt Marsh Moth Caterpillar)
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White fuzzy caterpillar (Salt Marsh Moth Caterpillar)

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Virginian Tiger Moth Caterpillar
by: Anonymous

This is definitely a Virginian Tiger Moth Caterpillar. I found a couple of these in my backyard. I asked my neighbor (he is an expert) and he said they were Virginian Tiger Moth caterpillars.
Virginian Tiger Moth
by: Moni

Grace
Great!
The moths help a lot to identify caterpillars. With only one photo, white fuzzy caterpillars in the Arctiidae family can be challenging to positively ID. I do make mistakes! :-) Thanks for the detective work with the life cycles. The life cycles are fascinating to follow.

You might enjoy this website on life cycles...it is a great asset to learn what all stages of these insects look like. It is a great help for identifying what we find. Also, it is a wonderful educational tool for learning what the food source and what conditions are needed to develop each stage for the various insects. Many are still not known.

http://www.buglifecycle.com/?page_id=110
White Virginian Tiger Moth
by: Grace

Moni,

Thanks for taking time to answer. In searching further on the Internet and comparing the newly developed moth I found, the White Virginian Tiger Moth seems a better match. The reason being: the caterpillar hairs on the Salt March caterpillar are bunched together with space between whereas this and the White Virginian Tiger Moth caterpillar hairs seem more evenly spaced. The wings on my moth didn’t have all the black spots that were on the Salt March one. It resembled the White Virginian Tiger Moth pictured on different sites. Since the White Virginian Tiger Moth caterpillars were reported to eat mostly grasses and weeds, I have let it go after taking a number of beautiful pictures.
Nice pictures of the White Virginian Tiger caterpillar & moth on this site: http://bugguide.net/node/view/498/bgimage
Salt marsh caterpillar
by: Moni

Alyssa
Yes, these are found all thru out North America, except Alaska and Yukon.
Minnesota
by: Alyssa

I found a caterpillar who looks just like this on a beet plant in my dad's garden. Can these live in minnesota?
Salt Marsh Moth Caterpillar
by: Moni

Grace
Your caterpillar is a Salt March moth caterpillar. They turn into white with black dotted moths with orange abdomens.
The caterpillars are various colors - whitish to brown to black, with long bristly hairs. Larvae feed on many mostly weedy plants including pigweed, ground cherry and mallow, plus crops such as alfalfa, asparagus, bean, beet, cabbage, carrot, celery, clover, corn, cotton, lettuce, onion, pea, potato, soybean, tobacco, tomato, and turnip.
They are not considered a pest. So feel free to let it go once you have seen the moth. The male moths have colored hind wings while the female hind wings are usually white.
Here is more information and photos if you want to know more.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3242

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