Chain O' Lakes caterpillars

Caterpillars at Chain O' Lakes Park, Illinois

This page has now been replaced by a page of caterpillars of northern Illinois, which contains more photos, which are of better quality than the ones on this page.

Chain O' Lakes park is an area with woods, open fields and lakes about ten miles west of where I was living in the appropriately named Lake County.

On the day that I was there, I was lucky enough to come across three caterpillars which are definitely more interesting than what comes to mind when most people think "caterpillar".

The first one, the caterpillar of the Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, couldn't have been easier to spot, crossing a wide-open sealed path in bright sunlight.

This caterpillar eats only plants in the violet family.

wide-angle photo of Great Spangled Fritillary caterpillar crossing the road

Of course, if you're as well armed as this fellow, you can walk around whenever and wherever you want! Take a close look and you'll see that it even has spines on its spines! And no, I didn't check if the spines are sharp - people think that caterpillars are innocuous little critters, but in fact many of them are very toxic and can make you pay for messing around with them, even if you don't eat them.

Great Spangled Fritillary caterpillar (click here to open a new window with this photo in computer wallpaper format)

This Virginia Ctenuchid moth caterpillar is so hairy that you can hardly tell which end is the front and which is the back, but just in case you were wondering, I think the head is on the left hand side.

The picture above is a view from the top, this one is a view from the side. You can see that it's got a couple of bright white racing stripes on either side.

Virginia Ctenuchid moth caterpillar (click here to open a new window with this photo in computer wallpaper format)

Here's my favorite one, an Eastern Tent caterpillar. They're called tent caterpillars because when the young hatch from their eggs they gather together in the branch of a tree and spin a tent out of silk, which they use as protective housing. The Eastern Tent caterpillar is very attractive, but it's one of the most destructive caterpillars in America, capable of stripping trees completely bare.

Eastern Tent caterpillar (click here to open a new window with this photo in computer wallpaper format)

It almost looks like a lion with a shaggy mane! Its eyes seem like they're made of black velvet, not like ordinary insect eyes at all.