Datana species - Datana Atsion, Burlington County, New Jersey, USA July 19, 2009
Found south of Atsion lake in an area that had experienced a significant wildfire the year before. The caterpillars were seen on two consecutive days in the same place and on the same plants. Earlier we had noticed similar caterpillars on stagger-bush blueberry (Lyonia mariana). This would suggest Datana ranaeceps (post-burn datana) but the images in my only field guide, Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner, seem to better match Datana perspicua (spotted datana).
Images of this individual: tag all Contributed by Steve Mattan on 25 July, 2009 - 11:27am Last updated 4 August, 2015 - 12:12pm |