Grey Hairstreak Butterfly (Strymon melinus) has Pink Caterpillar
Grey Hairstreak Butterflies are fairly common here in North America. Gray Hairstreaks fly throughout the US, north to southern Canada, South to Mexico and Venezuela. Their caterpillars eat many many plants but do the most crop damage to beans and cotton. Favorite caterpillar foods include anything in the pea family (Fabaceae), mallows Malvaceae and Malva), beans (Phaseolus), clovers (Trifolium), and cotton varieties Gossypium). Project Noah Not all Hairstreak caterpillars are pink - some are the usual colors: beige, bright green, brownish, etc. But check out this guy - he's positively pink! Shady Oak Butterfly Farm posted a photo of the pink caterpillar on their Facebook page today. http://www.facebook.com/#!/ShadyOakButterflyFarm I've had hundreds of Gray Hairstreaks in our garden over the years and I have yet to see a pink caterpillar. I will be positively vigilant this coming butterfly season! Their flights are May-September in the north and in the south they have t...