Silvery Checkerspot Cat on Echinacea?

11 years ago

I didn't realize any butterflies used echinacea for a host until I started looking for an id for this cat. I think it might be a Silvery Checkerspot. Does anything else use echinacea for a host?

It just looks black if you're looking at it from the top so I tried to get a side view that shows an orange stripe.

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Comments (3)

MissSherry
11 years ago
I don't get silvery checkerspots, Christie, but I've seen enough pictures of the cats to know that's what your caterpillar is - congrats, congrats!

They lay their eggs in large groups, so there should be more than just one caterpillar, unless the others have been eaten by predators or have already gone to pupate.

That's a great find!

Sherry
imabirdnut
11 years ago
That's what I have all over my different kinds of Black Eyed Susans & a native volunteer sunflower in my BF bed. It is definitely a Silvery Checkerspot!
I have a lot of a bright pink echinacea plants in the same bed but haven't seen any on them! I think I read that echinacea can be a host but I guess they like my rudebeckias(both annual & perennial) & the Helianthus annuus better!
I had something eating the cones of my flowers & saw something all over some Echinaceas at the FW Botanical Gardens & this info about it explains it...

Here is a link that might be useful: Echinacea
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christie_sw_mo
Original Author
11 years ago
I only found one so maybe something got the others. This one liked to hang out on the underneath side of the flower petals so they would be hard to see unless you looked under there. I kept it for three days and it wasn't eating so I put it back out on another echinacea. The one I brought in with the cat was kind of dry and tattered looking.
Thanks for the link. I've had larva get into the cones and eat the seeds before too. It must've been some kind of moth according to the link. Silvery Checkerspots feed on the foliage.