cecropia moth caterpillar

6001    Hi.  This picture was taken on a friend’s farm near Endeavour, Saskatchewan almost 10 years ago. At the time nobody could identify it.   It was found in a recently planted sea buckthorn windbreak row. Never saw one before or since. This guy was kept by the children and fed sea buckthorn leaves until he started spinning a cocoon in his jar. At that point my friend relented and put him back in the sea buckthorn, never to be seen again. As you can see, the critter was a good 10 cm long, and, “not from around here”.   If you can identify it you will solve a ten-year mystery.  Thanks, George

This is a caterpillar of a cecropia moth, Hyalophora cecropia (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), North America’s largest moth. See https://tinyurl.com/ya29g8d5 for more detailed information. Ed Saugstad, retired entomologist; Sinks Grove, WV.