One of the best-loved sights outside is a brightly colored butterfly. Surprisingly, the life of the showy butterfly depends on the humble, inconspicuous caterpillar that precedes it. Fritillaries, ...

James Stewart, a lab manager at the University of Maine, and graduate student Emma Irvine collect nests of browntail moth caterpillar pupae from an oak tree on the UMaine campus in Orono on June 26.

Caterpillars are an immature stage of butterflies and moths. They are easy to observe because they are slow moving and don’t flee when encountered. As the second of four life stages (egg, larva, pupa ...

I was beneath an ash tree at the University of Colorado, examining leaves for emerald ash borers, when I found a leaf with a dense cluster of more than 50 strange creatures. I had no idea what these ...

We often come across small caterpillars in spring, nibbling on leaves all day long. A few weeks later, they disappear and make way for beautiful butterflies fluttering above flowers. But what happens ...

The transformation from caterpillar to butterfly or moth is one of the most beguiling in the animal world. Both larva and adult are just stages in the life of a single animal, but are nonetheless ...