A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Caterpillars

I found the first caterpillar in hords on my sunflowers, devouring the leaves at a rate of about one a day. And I'm talking about my mammoth Russian sunflower leaves, leaves 2 feet or so long. What is he?


The second little fella, there is only 2 of them, on my passionflower. Pretty nifty looking, I thought. Any ideas what this guy is?


Thanks for your help!

I think that the last caterpillar is a: Gulf Frittilary butterfly caterpillar. Supposedly a "pretty" (not in my opinion) butterfly. But since I think the caterpillar is cool, I'll refrain from killing it. What about the first one?

I had a bumper crop of gulf frittilaries on my passionflower. The butterflies lay their eggs in the passion vine, which the caterpillars eat, "hide" into a chrysalis and becoming butterflies! For pictures of these creatures, go to http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/butterflies/butterflies/gulffritillary2.html

and here

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/butterflies/butterflies/gulffritillary1.html