Harvester Caterpillar - Paxton - 9/22/25

[kstei...@aol.com]

I saw my first Harvester caterpillar today! I went out for a quick walk, passed some alders loaded with woolly aphids, ran back to the car to get my binocs, and then spent a l-o-n-g time looking in all that white fluff.

I feel hesitant reporting this since I have no photographic evidence and it's my first report of this ever, but it looked exactly like the caterpillars on inaturalist:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=81729

and like the first caterpillar photo in this "Nature Watch" blog:

https://www.natureblog.org/harvester-chrysalis-and-other-insect-and-flora-news-from-the-wild/

If there are reasons why this doesn't seem like a logical sighting, let me know; otherwise I'm accepting it at today's gift.

Kristin Steinmetz

Paxton, MA

[Josh]

Hi Kristin,

My only encounter with Harvester cats was almost exactly the same time of year: September 25, 2010, at Tom Swamp in Petersham. So the timing of yours fits, at least. The cats in my case were found and identified by Sam Jaffe, so I’m pretty sure that their ID is correct ;-) :

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/315904670

Cheers,

Josh


Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
Amherst, MA
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/opihiman
https://www.facebook.com/opihi

Writer/compiler, Bird Observer
https://www.birdobserver.org/

Columnist, “Earth Matters”
https://www.gazettenet.com/search?bodysearch=earth+matters
https://www.hitchcockcenter.org/category/earth-matters/

Vice-president, Hampshire Bird Club
https://hampshirebirdclub.org/

Northeast Chapter head, Dragonfly Society of the Americas
https://www.dragonflysocietyamericas.org/northeastdsa

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