Salt Marsh Moth Caterpillar - Estigmene acrea

Very hairy orange caterpillar with long, soft setae projecting from its body. Its body, underneath the hairs, was white. These caterpillars are highly variable in color.

Larvae feed on a huge variety of weedy plants, including ground cherry, milkweed, dog fennel, and mallow, in addition to crops and trees such as alfalfa, asparagus, bean, beet, cabbage, carrot, celery, clover, corn, cotton, lettuce, onion, pea, potato, soybean, sugarbeet, tobacco, tomato, turnip, alder, apple, cherry, elderberry, pear, and poplar.

Habitat: Spotted on vegetation growing on the edge of a pond.