I’ve seen the moth and it’s very pretty, but this is the first mature larva that I’ve encountered. I wondered at the strategy that produced those colors (but it worked today because the color caught my attention before I stepped on it – it was marching down the middle of the trail!).
Montana Outdoors 
Ganrly. I have never seen anything like that. It has beautiful colors. At first sight I thought that You have photographed some snake.
Great photo!
LikeLike
Comment by sartenada — September 16, 2010 @ 10:59 pm
That is the first time I have seen that caterpillar and it was a complete surprise.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 17, 2010 @ 12:07 am
At first glance I thought that was one interesting slithering creature….so glad it’s a moth! I bet it will be even more beautiful when it matures with wings!
LikeLike
Comment by Stacey Dawn — September 16, 2010 @ 11:18 pm
I’ve seen the moth before and I know I have a photo of it, but I can’t find it. It’s a very pretty moth.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 17, 2010 @ 12:08 am
What a pretty little guy. Nature is so wonderfully varied.
LikeLike
Comment by Robin — September 17, 2010 @ 5:05 am
It sure is. I keep wondering what function the pattern and colors provide and how they came to develop. I’m sure each variety has a survival strategy of its own: I wish I could understand.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 17, 2010 @ 9:18 pm
That’s amazing… I expect the colours and patterns are to make predators think twice about eating it (or treading on it!)
By the way, I don’t know if it’s my browser or monitor but your blog’s side panel has suddenly decided to deposit itself over the side of your images… so I looked at the full versions in my reader.
LikeLike
Comment by Val Erde — September 17, 2010 @ 8:58 am
Well, the combination of decorations sure alerted me of its presence. At the very first instant the first thing that came to mind was a small snake.
I’ve been experimenting with a lager photo size, and maybe that is causing problems with your browser. I use Safari, and with it all I had to do was expand my browser window slightly . I read that WordPress can use photos of up to 1024 pixels wide, and that is what I’ve been trying.
I also see that 1024 is one of the sizes that Flickr offers and my photos on WordPress are links from Flickr. I have been using about 760 pixels, but to get that on Flickr, I have to upload that specific size and then it will be the largest size of that photo on Flickr and if someone wants to see a larger size, it isn’t available. Lately I’ve been uploading one about 1500 pixels wide and using the Flickr automatic size of 1024 for WordPress and there is still one of 1500 available on Flickr.
Made that kind of confusing, didn’t I! Sure confused me, anyway.
If the size is, or becomes much of a problem, of wourse I’ll go back to the 760 size again.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 17, 2010 @ 9:48 pm
Er, yeah… I sort of get you. I use Firefox. If I zoom out I can see the photos fine but then can barely read the text. But this is only the newer pics that are near the top of the page as those below your sidebar are fine. Not sure what you can do about it, if anything. Main thing is I can see them ‘whole’ with a bit of action on my part.
This page about minimum and mazimum image widths on WordPress might be helpful to you:
What’s your layout, by the way?
LikeLike
Comment by Val Erde — September 18, 2010 @ 7:20 am
The layout I use is “Silver is the new black”. I switched to it because it let me use a larger photo size, and my motivation for that was because of the wide landscape photos.
Thanks for the link to that page: I hadn’t seen it. It does show 1024 as the largest size, but they don’t account for all of the monitors out there and the individual browsers either. Different browsers must treat widths different ways. If I narrow the size of my page on Safari, it truncates the right part of the photo and if you aren’t familiar with the photo you wouldn’t detect the difference.
I may have to go back to a reduced size of photo. I certainly don’t want to create problems for anyone.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 18, 2010 @ 10:25 am
That little guy better get to pupating, or it’ll be a ‘snow’ moth when it emerges.
I also saw some difference in the formatting. Cool shots though, especially when viewed in full!
LikeLike
Comment by Daveabirding — September 17, 2010 @ 11:25 am
I’m beginning to think that stage of the larva doesn’t last too long, but I don’t know if it winters that way or not.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 17, 2010 @ 9:22 pm
Hi Montucky, That is the prettiest caterpillar I have ever seen a photo of! What a stunner! Great Photo!
LikeLike
Comment by wildlifewatcher — September 17, 2010 @ 1:48 pm
It sure is pretty, isn’t it! When I did some research on it I ran across a site that showed photos of what they thought were the ten prettiest caterpillars in the world and they rated this number one.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 17, 2010 @ 9:21 pm
We have lots of spurge out in the field, but I have never seen a caterpillar like that. I am sure I would have remembered that paint job.
That was a very interesting article. Thanks for adding it to your post.
LikeLike
Comment by sandy — September 17, 2010 @ 3:14 pm
I’ve been around leafy spurge for many years and I never saw one of those caterpillars either, although I remember seeing the moths. Perhaps that mature stage doesn’t last too long.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 17, 2010 @ 9:21 pm
It sure is colorful, glad you didn’t squish him/her/it.
LikeLike
Comment by Candace — September 17, 2010 @ 10:53 pm
I’m glad too, Candace. It’s a very pretty little creature.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 17, 2010 @ 11:22 pm
Wow! What a beautiful and stunning caterpillar! It’s been a long, long while since I’ve seen a colorful caterpillar and this one is so vivid! Wonderful you spotted it and was able to photograph the gorgeous and amazing critter. 🙂
LikeLike
Comment by Anna — September 18, 2010 @ 8:27 am
It was lucky that I saw it (for me as well as the caterpillar). Can’t believe it’s the first one I’ve seen!
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 18, 2010 @ 10:18 am
Gosh, that is a beautiful caterpiller. I clicked on the link–what a pretty moth he turns into.
LikeLike
Comment by kateri — September 18, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
Yes, I’ve seen the moths and they are very pretty. Quite large, too.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 18, 2010 @ 12:58 pm
Very impressive coloring on this little creature.
LikeLike
Comment by knightofswords — September 19, 2010 @ 9:29 am
For sure. I’d love to know how that evolved.
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 19, 2010 @ 1:34 pm
W-E-I-R-D!!! and definitely gets your attention
LikeLike
Comment by silken — September 19, 2010 @ 8:37 pm
Really decorated, isn’t it!
LikeLike
Comment by montucky — September 19, 2010 @ 9:50 pm