Insects, wildlife, monthly challenge, and photography
A Welcome Camp Guest
The larva of the spurge hawk-moth crawled through my campsite
On a recent trip to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, I looked forward to exploring North Dakota’s badlands and viewing wildlife. On previous visits, I had enjoyed watching and photographing bison, deer, wild horses, coyotes, wild turkeys, prairie dogs, and more. I saw all of those on this visit, but was surprised by a creature crawling through my campsite.
A caterpillar nearly three inches (76 mm) long crawled along the dusty ground as I set up my tent. While the iPhone in my pocket would have served well, I ran to the car to retrieve my camera. Returning seconds later, the insect larva had traveled several feet.
The caterpillar was the larval stage of the spurge hawk-moth (Hyles euphorbiae). This European native was imported to North America as one of several agents against the noxious weed leafy spurge…
