This October we put up our Halloween decorations which included the stretchy fake, nylon spider webbing we hung between two trees. I believe it was the third week of October on a Thursday evening, the weather was nice and I was out looking over our decorations when I found this beautiful Silver Spotted Skipper Larvae atop the mess of nylon spider web. At the time, I had no idea what it was called so I snapped a quick picture with my iPhone 5 so I could research it.
(iPhone 5)
Saturday morning I went out to see if the caterpillar was still there so I could take a few more pics with my iPhone 5 Macro lens and my Nikon. When I returned I found that the Caterpillar was indeed still there however something was different. There were white fuzzy things around the caterpillar. I had no idea what they were so I just snapped a few pics and captured a short video clip with my iPhone 5 and macro lens. I was very excited to have found this creature and photograph it.
(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
(Nikon D3100)
After taking the above photos, I went back in to do a bit of research to find out what exactly the white things were. After about 20 minutes of unsuccessful searching I went back out to take a few more pictures and was shocked to find that the yellow jackets had devoured it. I had never seen anything like that before and just couldn’t believe that they were eating it. Much to my surprise after reading more I found that this is just a normal part of the life cycle.
I felt sad for the caterpillar but I was so intrigued by the whole event I couldn’t help but take a few pictures of this also, as it was my initial intent to document the caterpillar for as long as it was around.
The images below are a bit graphic and may not be appropriate for all.
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CAUTION
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(iPhone 5 w/macro lens) 
(iPhone 5 w/macro lens)
(Nikon D3100)