Introducing the first caterpillar collected for our lab in 2012! It’s a Grammia species, in the family Arctiidae. They are also known as the tiger moths. If it looks closely related to a woolly bear, it’s because it is!

One of the undergrads in the lab, Louis (we’re going by middle names lately… I’m Valencia, by the way) found this caterpillar crawling on the pavement outside his apartment. He is keeping it fed and happy until it decides to pupate. Whenever he has taken it out to show other lab members it tries to leap off his hand and make a mad dash for safety. So I thought I would get a video clip of how silly this thing looks when it runs. Enjoy.