caterpillar

From a plant at my place. There were two of these, and some bird droppings, on the plant. Until one looked closely, they all looked like bird droppings. The orange thing at the head of the bug is retractable, like a tongue, but maybe antennae? The eyes appear to be below the orange thingy (non-scientific terminology, lol) and the big bulge behind the head is not the head, it just mimics one, perhaps to make the insect look tougher. But the overall effect is a good camoflage mimicing bird droppings.

I could have done without the closeup but what a strange looking animal.
You just never know what might be crawling around your yard.
Since the rains of the summer there are more of these herbivores around. Some of my plants look like I pulled all the leaves off of them.

Great pictures and really interesting little animal---sure glad it is so little.

Thanks

Diane

Looks like a type of swallowtail butterfly caterpillar.

The swallowtail butterfly caterpillar that eats the fennel plant (Foeniculum vulgare) [has a licorice smell] have the same 'horns' that they poke out and rub on you, or a predator, when they are picked up, smells rather nasty . They also have a similar shape to the head and body

The fennel swallowtail caterpillars are colored very differently though. See image I added below.

Quote:

Like all swallowtail caterpillars, the larvae can extrude a bright orange forked, fleshy organ called an osmeterium. This is kept within the body most of the time and is sort of "inflated" when needed. It is connected to a scent gland that produces a repellent odor to help ward off predators link

It's a GIANT swallowtail


Giant Swallowtail, September 6, 2003, Hanc-ck, Washington Co., MD (C Lehman)

Link


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Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)
Santa Ana NWR, Hidalgo Co., TX 10/15/04.
This and Pipevine are the most common swallowtails in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
link

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This was written by a guy I work with!