T-rad found a HUUUGE caterpillar which we struggled to ID. I saw a picture of one today I was very happy to finally ID it. I'm really fascinated by this beautiful creature.

Does anyone here know if caterpillars and the moths/butterfly's they become share the same scientific name?




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Am i the only person who notices something "Rude" about that caterpillar?

But seriously it is a beautiful and huge pillar :thumbsup:

Panama wrote: Does anyone here know if caterpillars and the moths/butterfly's they become share the same scientific name?

Apparently Yes! Sources: www.answerbag.com/q_view/131180
www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Butterfly%20Facts.htm

Panama wrote: Does anyone here know if caterpillars and the moths/butterfly's they become share the same scientific name?

Why wouldn't they? Its the same animal.

Only the moth has a Latin name "as it is easier to identify the moth or butterfly than the caterpillar or worm" the same goes for silkworms and wax worms etc.

iclazion wrote: Only the moth has a Latin name "as it is easier to identify the moth or butterfly than the caterpillar or worm" the same goes for silkworms and wax worms etc.

I disagree. I am most definately not a doctor (or anything close to it), but common sense tells me that all living animals need a scientific name including the larvae of butterflies/moths. Its the same animal, just needs to undergo some changes. Does a tadpole have a scientific name?

"A tadpole will carry the scientific name of the frog into which it will transform. A tadpole doesn't have a separate scientific name in that sense.

The tadpole (or pollywog, poliwag or polliwog) is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of a frog (or amphibian)."

wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_tadpole%27s_scientific_name

I think what it boils down to is that a butterfly or moth is the adult stage of a worm or caterpillar, but not all worms will turn into a moth or butterfly Ex: Superworms and meal worms "they turn into beetles".
In this case a superworms Latin name is Zophobas morio "which refers to the beetle; the adult or a cycle in the superworms. A stage in the cycle were they are able to mate" which begs the question if scientific names are given to the name of an insect where it reaches a stage in it's life to mate, ex:moth, butterfly or beetle?