Garden tigers
Aug. 17th, 2020 22:59![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillWhile picking blueberries, a large moth settled nearby, under a leaf. It took a little hunting, but I just identified it as a garden tiger moth.
Apparently garden tiger moth caterpillars are.... woolly bears! Not the standard two-color ones I've seen around here in the fall, though; those tend to be the Isabella tiger moth, which is much less striking. The garden tiger caterpillars are more uniform, dark with orange-brown guard hairs. They have a broad host range, but they seem to prefer poisonous plants. One preferred host: Digitalis. Okay then! it's not like we have foxglove growing literally *everywhere*...
I suspect this is not the last garden tiger I will see here.
Apparently garden tiger moth caterpillars are.... woolly bears! Not the standard two-color ones I've seen around here in the fall, though; those tend to be the Isabella tiger moth, which is much less striking. The garden tiger caterpillars are more uniform, dark with orange-brown guard hairs. They have a broad host range, but they seem to prefer poisonous plants. One preferred host: Digitalis. Okay then! it's not like we have foxglove growing literally *everywhere*...
I suspect this is not the last garden tiger I will see here.