Caterpillars in the Field and Garden: A Field Guide to the Butterfly Caterpillars of North America (Butterflies [or Other] Through Binoculars) by Thomas J. Allen

by Thomas J. Allen

Jeffrey Glassberg's acclaimed Butterflies through Binoculars guides have revolutionized the way we view butterflies. Now there's a field guide in the same practical format, and with the same emphasis on conservation, to identify caterpillars. Caterpillars are as varied, fascinating, and often as colorful as the adult butterflies they become. This is the most comprehensive guide to these creatures available. It contains all the information necessary to find and identify the caterpillars of North America--from Two-tailed Swallowtails, some of the largest butterfly caterpillars at just over two inches when fully grown, to tiny Western Pygmy-Blues. Caterpillar seekers will learn how to distinguish between butterfly caterpillars and moth caterpillars, where and how to find caterpillars, and the visual differences between young and older caterpillars. Each species section describes how to identify the caterpillar, complete with brilliant photos--many published here for the first time. To make for easy field use, each caterpillar's key physical features, abundance, habitat, and major hostplants are listed on the same page as its photo. The book also contains a special section on butterfly gardening, offering valuable information on how to set up a butterfly garden and raise healthy butterfly caterpillars, and provides a thorough list of the plants butterflies most like to feast on. From the concerned gardener who wishes not to kill caterpillars that may one day become beautiful butterflies to the serious butterflier wishing to take the hobby to the next level, this remarkable guide will provide all of the information necessary for an enriching caterpillar experience.

Genres: Science, Reference, Science Nature, Field Guides, Biology

Unknown Binding

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Thomas J. Allen (1931- )

Reviews

[Andria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought for a sketching class, very helpful.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, very informative but I wouldn't say it's a complete guide to identification of all species or anything. Most caterpillars included in the book do not have photos or descriptions of all instars. This book is definitely a starting point, though.

In my opinion, it's hard to find a complete guide for caterpillars of moths and butterflies as well as moths and butterflies (butterfly guides being the easiest to source, by far--likely due to popularity with the gardening crowd, etc). This book is a wonderful resource for any budding moth/butterfly lover. It has some good information on classification, food plants, and life cycle.

I used this book throughout 2022 for IDing as a hobby but did need to combine it with many other resources. Using this book alone for ID was a very time-consuming task and I do not recommend doing it that way. I'm in the midwest in N. America and I felt like many caterpillars were not included in this book. This book became a much better resource after I shifted to using this book as a starting point for ID. I combined this book with the iNaturalist app and multiple other caterpillar books most of the time.

This book is not a huge resource for caterpillar ID but a really good resource starting point.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars for this reason because it is not a complete or dependable "field guide" as is.