The colors were the same dark blue, yellow-green and light green or white, but the Monarch caterpillar has solid stripes, where these had yellow dots on the dark blue instead of solid stripes of color.
Monarch Caterpillar on Asclepia |
So we dug out the butterfly identification guide we had just bought, and identified them as the caterpillars of the Anise Swallowtail butterfly.
Anise Swallowtail Caterpillar |
The clincher, though, was that these caterpillars were completely ignoring the very handsome Asclepia nearby that Monarchs would be devouring, and instead were chowing down heartily on the parsley and dill, which, according to the guide, is what they prefer to eat.
Eating That Parsley |