Yellow-shouldered slug

Common Name: Yellow-shouldered slug

Scientific Name: Lithacodes fasciola

Season: One generation, with adults in early summer and caterpillars by July.

Food: Many deciduous trees, including apple, basswood, beech, birch, blueberry, cherry, chestnut, hickory, locust, maple, oak, and willow.

Ecology: Like many individuals in this family, caterpillars of the yellow-shouldered slug do not resemble caterpillars at all, but rather appear like slugs, with their heads projected down towards the ground and transparent bodies. This is one of the most common type of slug caterpillar encountered in the eastern US, feeding on the underside of leaves in woodlands and forest edges. Adults commonly come to lights at night, and have a strange habit of turning their abdomens up in the air like a tail when at rest. Caterpillars overwinter as pupae.

Doug Tallamy Photo