An Easy Visual ID Guide to Green Caterpillars

What’s eating your plants?!

If you have a garden, chances are you’ve come across plenty of green caterpillars and never knew what they were.

This visual guide will take you through 32 different types of green caterpillars and help you identify them based on their physical features and habitats.

Angle shades moth caterpillar

Its coloring is green with a layer of white lines running down the sides, but there can also be instances where the skin is brownish-green with red spots running down the sides alongside the lines.

Black swallowtail caterpillar

The black swallowtail caterpillar is a species that changes color as it matures. Young caterpillars are black with white saddles, but mature into a bright green color layered with black stripes down the sides.

Cabbage white caterpillar (imported cabbageworm)

Often found in gardens munching on all sorts of vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, kale, and bok choy, this caterpillar’s body is smooth, slender, and light green in color.

Copper underwing caterpillar

The key identifier with this caterpillar is a large, protruding bump at the rear, and in a mature caterpillar, there’s also a colored tip that looks like a horn at the end.

Dragonhead caterpillar  (dragon-headed caterpillar)

What makes it truly captivating are the telltale “head capsules” that resemble four horns—a menacing-looking feature meant to fend off predators.

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