Page 114 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Hesperiidae
DISTRIBUTION North America
HABITAT Open woods and brushy areas
HOST PLANTS Legumes such as wild pea (Lathyrus spp.) and vetch (Vicia spp.);
also tick-trefoil (Desmodium spp.), bush clover (Lespedeza spp.),
clover (Trifolium spp.), and Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
NOTE Caterpillar resembling many other species in the large
skipper family
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but common in North America

ADULT WINGSPAN
1¼–1⅞ in (32–47 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1⅜ in (35 mm)
THORYBES PYLADES
NORTHERN CLOUDYWING
112
(SCUDDER, 1870)

Northern Cloudywing caterpillars, found on numerous legumes,
especially those with tendrils such as the wild pea and vetch,
construct a nest by silking one or more of the host plant leaves
together. The narrow neck of the caterpillar is characteristic
of most Hesperiidae species, allowing them to maneuver the
head to silk the inside of the leaf nest. The caterpillars venture
out to feed on leaves but rest inside most of the time. They have
a comb on the rear that they use to snap their dung far away,
to avoid fouling the nest.

The Northern Cloudywing caterpillar varies
from sandy tan, peppered with tiny black spots Mature, fully fed caterpillars hibernate in a silk nest in the litter
and white spots, to rich reddish brown. Two light
dorsolateral lines are present, and there may until pupation. The adults fly from March to September in
be a dark dorsal stripe. The head and collar are
black with a dense covering of very short setae. the south of their range, where there may be two generations,
and between May and July farther north, where there is one
generation. Male adults wait near the ground in tiny clearings
between bushes for females to arrive for mating. The Northern
Cloudywing is one of North America’s most common skippers.

Actual size