How do I identify a cocoon?

Determine if you have a moth or butterfly cocoon or chrysalis. Moth cocoons are brown, gray or other dark colors. Some moths incorporate dirt, feces, and small bits of twigs or leaves into the cocoon to camouflage themselves from predators. Butterfly chrysalids shine with a golden metallic color.

How do you tell if a cocoon is a moth or butterfly?

A moth makes a cocoon, which is wrapped in a silk covering. A butterfly makes a chrysalis, which is hard, smooth and has no silk covering. As scientists discover and study new species of butterflies and moths, distinctions between the two are becoming blurred.

What’s the difference between a pupa and a cocoon?

Pupa and chrysalis have the same meaning: the transformation stage between the larva and the adult. While pupa can refer to this naked stage in either a butterfly or moth, chrysalis is strictly used for the butterfly pupa. A cocoon is the silk casing that a moth caterpillar spins around it before it turns into a pupa.

What does the monarch butterfly caterpillar look like?

First instar caterpillars are very small and may be pale green or grayish white, appearing almost translucent. Subsequent instars are distinctly striped in yellow, white, and black, with a pair of black tentacles on both ends of their bodies.

What kind of bug looks like a cocoon?

What do bagworms look like? You probably won’t see the bagworms themselves, but instead, the 2” homes bagworms make in your trees. In the fall, the insects use their silk and pieces of the tree to create a camouflaged, cocoon-looking bag, which they fill with up to 1,000 eggs!

What is the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon?

While pupa can refer to this naked stage in either a butterfly or moth, chrysalis is strictly used for the butterfly pupa. A cocoon is the silk casing that a moth caterpillar spins around it before it turns into a pupa. This is the larva’s final molt as it transforms to a chrysalis.