What kind of caterpillar (???) is this?

July 20, 2022 2:05 AM

Daughter would like to know what this is. (She described it as looking "like a potato".) Couldn't find a caterpillar that looked like it. I didn't have any better luck searching. Everything seems too fuzzy or the wrong pattern. (Or, in the case of the unicorn caterpillar, it's lacking the shape and the weird green section, though the color is closer...) Photo taken in Portland metro area, Oregon, during the late evening hours on 7/19/22. High temp today around 90. Not sure what kind of flower it's eating.
posted by stormyteal to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Quick guess is some kind of hawk moth caterpillar, maybe a sphinx moth, but I'll wait for the actual experts to chip in :)
posted by snarfois at 3:39 AM on July 20, 2022

Looks like a potato cutworm to me. You’re definitely within their range.
posted by donut_princess at 4:18 AM on July 20, 2022

In case anyone else was thinking of trying it, iNaturalist thinks perhaps it's a tobacco budworm moth caterpillar, but I'm not sure why; it doesn't look like a good match to me. Potato cutworm looks a lot closer.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:25 AM on July 20, 2022

If you’re not avoiding the platform overall, r/whatsthisbug will give you a very fast, very accurate answer
posted by svenx at 5:32 AM on July 20, 2022 [4 favorites]