We have seen our share of cutworms, cabbage worms, tomato hornworms, corn earworms, beetle larvae, grubs but never this one. The most interesting one to date are tomato hornworms with their size and hook-like rears. Ironically, we are trying to attract even more interesting caterpillars (like monarch and swallowtail caterpillars) by planting milkweed.

Spying this caterpillar resulted in mixed emotions. It is now most interesting caterpillar seen in the garden. The caterpillar’s attention was drawn when it was noticed that something had chewed off a significant number of leaves from the young King Mandarin / Cam Sanh citrus tree. (Usually citrus trees are not the delight of caterpillars.) Nice to discover and witness but too bad there was some damage.

Update: This is a Giant Swallowtail caterpillar. Thanks, A.B., for the identification.