I was told that Cecropia caterpillars eat and grow all summer, molting four times and changing color from black to yellow to green. I then remembered that last year, when I visited my friend Susan, she showed me little black creatures who have more colors to follow. This year when we visited Susan we were looking at green caterpillars – because the colors have changed from other shades. They can grow to four or five inches long. and this one is not quite that big yet.

There are two cecropia on the jar, and there is another one, upside down under a different leaf. The cecropia are evacuating their black poop.

Susan took us in the garden and showed us more of the cecropia who are climbing about, and eating, in the shrubs. All during the summer.

In the fall Cecropias go into the cocoon phase which is called diaphase. Inside the cocoon is constructed to hold on a thin branch. A change occurs that morphs the caterpillar in a pupa. The cocoon, which has three layers, protects the future moth from the brutal temperature and weather (winds and ice) of winter!   In May the adult moth will emerge. And then the system of creating cecropias will begin again. Just remember that the moths will only last for about two weeks. They do not  have a regular mouth but they can sip nectar from flowers, fruit juice and even sap from trees – but that is all.

#It was just brought to me that I made an error  in the last sentence of this post. The adult moth does not have a regular mouth – and it cannot eat anything at all!