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Black-blotched Prominent- Oedemasia leptinoides (Photo 4)
I collected this caterpillar on 7/22/25. I wasn't sure if it was molting, pupating, or dying. It turns out that it was molting. The process took nearly 24 hours. For most of that time, the caterpillar was lying still on its silk mat, but the last couple hours (on 7/23) were occupied with convulsions that looked like the caterpillar's guts were churning. It made me nauseous to watch, but watch I did. Finally, it crawled out of its old skin. I let it rest for several hours before releasing back into the wild.
Video 1 shows the convulsions:
Video 2 shows the cat crawling out of its old skin:
"Oedemasia leptinoides", the black-blotched schizura or black-blotched prominent, is a species of moth in the family Notodontidae. It was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote in 1864 and is found in North America.
