# What type of caterpillar is this?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 16, 2014, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263 "2014-07-16T10:49:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cardboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardboard)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2014, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/1 "2014-07-16T10:49:06Z")
Trying to help someone on another site. Thanks.
[ ](http://tinypic.com/images/goodbye.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/2 "2014-07-16T12:49:37Z")
The location where it was found would be a great help.
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### Author:  [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/3 "2014-07-16T17:13:56Z")
I’m no pro, but it looks like what we call an armyworm, a real pest.
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### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/4 "2014-07-16T17:57:37Z")
If whoever took the picture could supply a clearer, less Instagrammed version, I imagine that would help too.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/5 "2014-07-16T18:34:00Z")
nm
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/6 "2014-07-17T16:18:00Z")
It looks as though it’s on top of pieces of charred wood - combined with the fact that it is also in quite a straight posture makes me wonder if this thing was found accidentally cooked inside a hollow twig at the edge of the burned out fire. Or if it was cooked on purpose.
Even with decent quality photography, caterpillars are harder to ID than their adult forms - and this is especially true of the paler grubs that live under soil or inside of plant stems. If I had to guess, I would say it looks like it might be the larva of a moth in the Noctuidae, but that hardly narrows it down, as that family represents about one third of all moths.
Without a clear idea of scale, and where (in the world) this was found, it’s almost impossible.
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### Author:  [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/7 "2014-07-18T22:00:22Z")
Looks like a cooked witchetty grub.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/8 "2014-07-19T03:58:33Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> Without a clear idea of scale, and where (in the world) this was found, it’s almost impossible.
I’m not entirely sure it’s even a caterpillar. It could be some other kind of larva.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/9 "2014-07-19T22:02:37Z")
Good point. I don’t know why I just ran with that assumption, given almost every other variable is undefined also.
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### Author:  [@Pliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pliam)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-caterpillar-is-this/693263/10 "2014-07-20T16:54:25Z")
It’s very hard to tell, as the photo is terrible. Just guessing based on what I can see about it, it’s probably a moth caterpillar, likely either Banded Sphinx or Goldenrod Flower Moth.
Again, without a better picture, location identification, etc., it is unlikely that anyone can identify definitively.