Thursday 16 August 2007

Potato Bug

My sister wanted to know what a potato bug looks like.



(This photo is from a Slovenian site http://www2.arnes.si/)



A German poster from the Potato Museum (www.potatomuseum.com)

And here are the Cecropia caterpillars that people are finding around here these days.



This photo is from www.ivyhalldistrict96 an educational site.



The above image is from Farm1's flickr account.

These caterpillars hatch into moths with 5 inch wingspreads - one of the largest in North America and are rarely seen except at night.



This one is from www.pikespeakphoto.com.

Pamela mentioned the Tomato Hornworm - I guess it looks a bit different because it has horns.



This is from www.gaipm.org.

The tomato horn worm moth is also not as pretty - browner and less interesting in its markings (to me - I'm sure other Horn worms have a different opinion). (They seem to also call this a hawk moth).



From www.floridagardner.com (a photo from the University of Florida archive).

12 comments:

ChrisB said...

The caterpillar looks fascinating and the moth is huge. You got some good photos.

Beccy said...

Wow, those caterpillars are so unusual and the butterfly is so big.

Anonymous said...

Wow, the moth/butterfly is beautiful!!

Pamela said...

that middle cat. is a tomato worm.
He will turn into a sphinx moth (hummingbird moth)


your other fellow is absolutely amazing. beautiful and ugly all at once.

I've seen a potato bug - but wasn't sure who he was. How do you do??

AfKaP said...

Hi, All, None of those photos are mine but all are borrowed from others (If you click on them it should lead you to the other person's website. I'll put up some credits)

Pamela - I've encountered this moth at night and wondered what a hummingbird is doing out so late. The news report said a tomato hornworm is different, but of course soemone may have mislabelled the picture too.

Anonymous said...

ok the caterpiller was wicked and the moth was huge.. the horns cool

have you ever seen a cow fish? they are neat and they actually let you pet them they are salt water critters;)

Nessa said...

Fascinating bugs.

AfKaP said...

WB - Cowfish are cool and come in a variety of patterns. Love the long horns and know why you thought of them!

GN - Bugs may be an acquired taste, but I find them fascinating!

Anonymous said...

Thanks. Now I want to see a cowfish!

This thing is not accepting my comment!!

Pamela said...

oh.. yes... now I see my mistake.

take a look at our our variety, however I think they are gorgeous

my sphynx moth

AfKaP said...

Everyone! - go see Pamela's moth picture it is beautiful! (I used to see sphinx moths but haven't seen ine in years.)

tim said...

That's actually a potato BEETLE. Potato BUGS are much more freaky looking.

http://www.potatobugs.com/index.html