The ironweed was in bloom, and a Pleasing Picture-winged Ant Lion paused for its portrait on September 5, 2022. Fairies exist! If you ever see one fly, you'll believe it. These insects fly like they're doing it for the first time, suspended half-vertically, beating those lovely pictured wings madly...they look like someone impersonating a dragonfly, and doing it very badly. Oh they are so special!
If it kind of snaps your neck to go back nearly a year to September 2022, it does that to me, too. But now I have to tell you the rest of the story of the hickory horned devil I protected in the summer of 2022. I can't say I raised it; the persimmon tree did that; I just covered it with a huge fine mesh sleeve to keep the braconid wasps and tachinid flies from parasitizing it. Here it is, in situ, with the sleeve open for photography. You'll have to click on the photo to see it very well.
The caterpillar was undergoing some dramatic color changes as it grew, and grew, and grew.
Let's have a close look at the amazing gripperdoodle at the stern of this beast.
It reminded me of a silicone potholder, the way it folded over the twig and fastened with something akin to Velcro, ensuring the massive caterpillar would not fall to its death.
My caterpillar guru Tami Gingrich told me that when it turned color to a pale and vibrant turquoise, it would begin the wandering phase, and indeed it did, ceasing to eat and walking all over its enclosure. This is the stage at which most people find hickory horned devils walking around, looking for a place to dig into the earth. I was bemused to see one make the newspapers that same month. I can't think of anything more newsworthy than seeing this creature gallumphing down a sidewalk.
Figuring it was at its largest and heaviest, and knowing it would eat no more, I weighed it to see where it topped out, on September 5, 2022.
It's about 22 gm, almost an ounce.
Let's put that in perspective.
It weighs as much as a fat adult big brown bat (22 gm)!
Almost twice as much as a chipping sparrow (12gm)!
More than a junco, or an orchard oriole (both 19 gm)!
You get the idea. It's a Very Large Caterpillar.
But it is soon to become something entirely other.
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