I was out back cleaning up the Hibiscus bed along the back fence. Also had some Glads out there in the spring and was pulling the dead leaves off them when this fellow caught my eye. I got Randy and Amanda out to look at it in person, it was just such a fantastic sight. It is between 4-5 inches, 10-13 cm, in length. The narrowest part of the body is about 3/4 inch, 2.5 cm, thick and the head is about 1-1 1/4 inches, 3-4 cm, thick. The head looks like a mouth at first but it has a telescoping part that comes out once in a while. It is also called a caterpillar snake too because of the eyes and it's size I guess. It is traveling along the vine out back, that is a member of the grape (vitis) family heading really, really slowly to bury itself in the ground to pupate until next spring. I will definitely be on the lookout for the moth next summer. This is a link to a picture of the moth. http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/gaudy.html
Have you seen the movie "Dune"? There is a really huge worm in it that they have to avoid as much as possible. The head part of this caterpillar looked like that worm, I was sort of leary getting my hand too close when taking the pictures. It would raise the head and that telescoping part would come out then go back in.
That caterpillar is definately the master of disguise as it resemles a dry twig. The moth has beautiful markings on its wings and I can imagine it would be hard to find on a tree in full leaf.
Wow Toni....you lucky dog you! I'm completely jealous. I hope you see him or her next spring and get some photos too. I can't wait to show my husband your photos. Thanks for sharing them!
The big guy or gal, don't know if caterpillars have a gender, has evidently gone underground now. It traveled a couple of feet away from where I first saw it, then traveled back, did a u-turn, sat there until sometime Saturday and either traveled to the end of the vine and down to the ground or dropped to the ground from where it was. I had been wondering what that vine was, I posted pictures of it in the Plant ID forum last spring. Must be a member of the grape family since that is the only food source for this particular caterpillar. I really hope I can see the moth next summer and maybe more caterpillars in the fall.
