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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths (Geometroidea) » Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) » Larentiinae » Eupitheciini » Eupithecia » Common Eupithecia - Hodges#7474 (Eupithecia miserulata)
Photo#409968
stick caterpillar on purple milkweed - Eupithecia miserulata
Copyright © 2010 Sara Tangren

stick caterpillar on purple milkweed - Eupithecia miserulata
Potomac, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA
June 11, 2010
Size: about half inch
Purple milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens) is becoming rare in Maryland. This patch sported 20 flowering stems in 1996, now has only 4. I'm curious if the caterpillar is dependent on this particular hostplant or is a generalist. It is hanging from it's hind legs. It has 3 pairs of prolegs (see photo B). It eats the internal flowering parts of the milkweed, one of the 5 horns on this floret is already gone (see photo C).

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stick caterpillar on purple milkweed - Eupithecia miserulata stick caterpillar on purple milkweed - Eupithecia miserulata stick caterpillar on purple milkweed - Eupithecia miserulata
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Contributed by Sara Tangren on 12 June, 2010 - 9:56pm
Last updated 4 December, 2011 - 6:25pm

Moved
Moved from Eupithecia.
… john and jane balaban, 4 December, 2011 - 6:26pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Butterflies and Moths.
… john and jane balaban, 24 June, 2010 - 4:45pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… john and jane balaban, 24 June, 2010 - 3:41pm login or register to post comments

Looks to be one of the Pug Moth caterpillars
We think they are pretty general feeders. It has three pair of actual legs (on the thoracic body segments) and only one pair of abdominal prolegs (Geometridae)
… john and jane balaban, 13 June, 2010 - 8:47am login or register to post comments

 
Pug diets
Regarding diet, Wagner (2005) says that, "although many pugs are specialized in diet, the Common Pug is remarkably polyphagous," and more than 90% of the pug caterpillars he finds are Common Pugs. This image looks like a Common Pug, but maybe multiple/all pug species look like this. Anybody know?
… John Schneider, 13 June, 2010 - 2:07pm login or register to post comments

 
Pug diets
I know nothing about pugs, but will be excited to read up on them now that you all have given me the lead. I can tell you that all the other larvae I have seen feeding on milkweeds specialize on that genus, probably because of the toxins.
… Sara Tangren, 1 August, 2010 - 12:04am login or register to post comments

 
I don't know what it is
but with 150 species of Eupithecia in North America, I would doubt if all of the larvae and host plants were know.
… John R. Maxwell, 13 June, 2010 - 3:18pm login or register to post comments

 
You mean two pairs?
One pair at the very end and another pair just in front of that pair.
… Victor Engel, 13 June, 2010 - 1:47pm login or register to post comments

 
For some reason the last pair has a different name.
So one pair of abdominal prolegs on segment A6 and one pair of anal prolegs on A10.
… john and jane balaban, 13 June, 2010 - 2:35pm login or register to post comments

 
OK. I assumed you were includ
OK. I assumed you were including them since you mentioned the real legs and the prolegs. I can understand that they have a different name. They frequently look different.
… Victor Engel, 13 June, 2010 - 3:33pm login or register to post comments

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