Caterpillar at Sapphire Elementary

I’ve just finished up my fall visit at the Sapphire Elementary School in Monroe, NY. Kindergarten and 1st graders had the chance to be ecologists with me exploring the schoolyard ecosystem. Our trips into the lawn and forest edge revealed many different plants and animals. We found the typical herbaceous plants of the schoolyard lawn – red and white clovers, dandelion, crab grass along with a number of other grass species, yarrow, common and English plantain and trees – red, sugar and Norway maples, Norway spruce and white ash.

Several classes had the opportunity to see a variety of different birds. Blue jays and turkey vultures were seen by almost all the classes. One class had the opportunity to observe about a dozen Eastern bluebirds flit about a schoolyard fence and nearby power line. At one point we saw a male fly up from the ground and land on the wire with a caterpillar or worm in its mouth. Another group witnessed three broad-winged hawks and two osprey fly by on migration. Missing from the usual creatures observed on these autumn field trips was the monarch butterfly. In past years several dozen monarchs would be observed on our walks. This year we only saw two. We wondered what might have caused this decline in monarchs, something that has been observed and talked about by other naturalists and environmental educators throughout the state.

Late summer and fall is a great time to observe caterpillars. They have spent the summer months growing up and their larger size makes them easily visible as they prepare to overwinter. The wooly bear is probably the most familiar of the fall caterpillars but there are many other candidates to discover. We encountered one such caterpillar, one that I had never seen before. I had to tell the students that I didn’t know what it was and that I would have to do some research to figure it out.

Using “Caterpillars of Eastern North America” I was able to figure out that the caterpillar, shown here, was a Ruby Tiger Moth. It’s scientific name is Pragmatobia fuliginosa, a relative of the Wooly Bear (Isia isabella) in the moth family called Arctiidae. The caterpillar eats a lot of different plants including goldenrod, plantain, sunflowers and ash - there are ash trees and plantain in the Sapphire Elementary schoolyard.

The caterpillar will hibernate for the winter and form a cocoon in the spring. The adult moth will come out of the cocoon after it has undergone metamorphosis. It's body will be a dark reddish brown with a row of black spots along the back of its abdomen. The front wings will be a dull reddish brown with one small black spot on each wing. The hind wings will be a pale pink, also with one small dark spot on each wing.

Other caterpillars I’ve come across in my travels include the Galium Sphinx (Hyles gallii) and Trumpet Vine Sphinx (Paratraea plebeja).
















Here are two caterpillars that I found recently (this past late summer and fall) in my travels but have not been able to figure out what species they are. Do you know what they are?

















Keep your eyes open for caterpillars in the schoolyard. The big brightly colored ones provide a great hands-on teaching opportunity about the diversity of life in the schoolyard, life cycles, food chains, animal behavior, and adaptations.