I was out with the Audubon society and we found this caterpillar:
https://picasaweb.google.com/marysharpe4/NewMexico?authkey=Gv1sRgCP3J7sLQp8TBEg#5660551477100723218
I think it might be a mourning cloak but I would like a second opinion.
I’m no expert. Have you tried an ID site like the following?
http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Caterpillars
It worked pretty well for our last few captures.
It might be helpful if you could identify the plant it’s on. They tend to stay on the type of plant they eat.
Where’s the hookah?
Definitely not a mourning cloak.
I’m not a trained entomologist or anything, and I can’t tell what it actually IS from the photo…there are any number of black-brown caterpillars with long white fuzz. A better photo of any markings would be useful, too.
Was it in the same place as the butterfly in the other photos?
The butterfly in the other photo looks like a checkered skipper, and the caterpillar of that doesn’t look like your caterpillar, either, so that’s out.
Is your caterpillar a garden tiger? Google images for Arctia caja
It was in a meadow full of mulleins, willows, bigtooth maples, asters, and mint plants and that was the same place I took the picture of the checkered skipper. The area was in the Manzano Mountains of central NM, if that’s any help.