The eye spots are very characteristic. The bright green spicebush caterpillar with big eye spots is about as cute and goofy as you can imagine, while the black swallowtail caterpillar is more handsome, green with black stripes. So, it appears that our reader found a Spicebush Swallowtail shortly before it begins the process of turning into a butterfly. Susan. The larvae hatch out with an appearance initially resemble bird droppings as an adaptation for camouflage and fool the predators. The Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio Troilus) is a type of caterpillar that looks like a tiny snake. It is actually a Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar. One of the most rewarding aspects of planting a pollinator/wildlife garden is watching the life cycle of caterpillars and the resulting butterflies play out in your backyard. One of the more unusual features of this caterpillar is its fake eyes on its head. These are my favorite caterpillars and I like finding them in the backyard. The actual eyes are located in the areas indicated by the green circles. Edit Hook Spicebush swallowtail caterpillar showing the shape of the eyes. More about the Spicebush Swallowtail More about the Tiger Swallowtail I was looking over your excellent site again and noticed that on Caterpillars 3 on the 9/21/2005 from S. Ohio you identified the orange caterpillar as a Tiger Swallowtail. They are skin patterns called ‘false eyes’ - adapted by these caterpillars as a defense against predators. Later, they transform themselves to mimic a snake with the help of their eyespots in the later instars. The Spicebush caterpillar initially appears as a bird-dropping camouflage, then transforms into a brilliant, bright green "predator" with enormous false "eyes". Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar entnemdept.ufl.edu. Also, the Spicebush swallowtail does have an orange morph. In later stages caterpillars develop two pairs of false eyespots on their body, which are believed to be a mimicry of either green snakes or tree frogs. Actually, what look like eyes are not eyes at all. (Caterpillar, Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) - 03) The fact that the false eye spots even swell out from the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar's body, as do actual eyes, is proof to us that these little souls were created by intelligent design. Right before they pupate, Spicebuch Swallowtail caterpillars can be yellow. The earlier stages of the caterpillar are camouflaged to look like bird droppings. It has a light green body with darker dots and yellow colors around its midsection. The life cycle of the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar is marked by visual deception and hiding from detection. 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