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Cecropia Moth Caterpillar

Cecropia Moth Caterpillar line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Cecropia Moth Caterpillar full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Cecropia Moth Caterpillar was completed on 10.10.2011. A few months ago, I had drawn a Cecropia Moth (as this had been an important insect from my youth) and didn't know what the caterpillar stage of the moth had looked like. What a shock I got when I did some research on them to find this almost comical looking caterpillar. As will other caterpillars, they are very colorful which makes for an excellent subject to illustrate.

Information about the Cecropia Moth Caterpillar:

The Cecropia Moth Caterpillar is the larval stage of the species Hyalophora cecropia, which is North America's largest moth. The range of this large flying insect is east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and southern Canada. The caterpillar stage of the moth is a voracious eater, feeding on the leaves of many different types of trees, the adult moth does not eat during it's short lifetime of only a few weeks. During that time the only purpose of the moth is to find a mate and reproduce. The caterpillar does produce a type of silk and for that reason it is sometime kept in captivity.