Giant Swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio cresphontes Cramer) also known as the Orange dog
I shot photos of this caterpillar on Saturday morning and then spent about 20 minutes online identifying it. Giant Swallowtail caterpillars are generally brown and white (about two and a half inches long) and resemble a bird dropping, although this one reminded me of a snake. The swollen head and two large eye spots give the appearance of ferocious quarry to scare away predators. When disturbed, these catepillars project a pair of horn-like, orange-red glands called osmeteria – looking very much like a forked tongue - which are suppose to give off a foul odor that acts as a strong deterrent to birds (I didn’t smell anything – I was too shocked). The adult butterfly is one of the largest swallowtail species, with a wingspan of up to six inches. Wings are black with yellow markings near wing margins and spots forming a diagonal band across the fore wings.
Life Cycle: Adult females lay yellow-green eggs singly on host plants. Caterpillars hatch and develop through several stages before forming a chrysalis or pupa, which is attached to the host plant by the back end and held in an upright position by a silk thread around the middle. 
Habitat and Food Sources: Feeds on leaves of host plants including citrus; gas plant, Dictamnus; prickly ash, Xanthoxylum sp.; and rue, Ruta graveolens.
55 Comments:
Oh. My. GOSH. That is the scariest looking caterpillar I've ever seen. I'm not quite sure how something that looks like a cast member from a horror film can turn into such a beautiful butterfly...
I agree that I thought it looked like a snake. My daughter claimed she was bitten by a snake with a red tongue. It stung her. When I went to see what she found, my first thought was that it was a snake. Upon further inspection, I realized it was a caterpillar. It was demolishing my lemon tree leaves. I took it off the tree using 2 cups and it stuck out its red tongue and emitted a horrible odor. One of the worst things I have ever smelled. I had 3 of these on one small lemon tree. I didn't let them live long enough to become the butterfly that I would have enjoyed!
OMG! We just found 2 of these on our orange tree. At first we thought is was bird poop until we went to touch it with a stick and the red horns came out. We are glad we found this site now we know what it is, thank you.
Hi Bruce,
My name is Zoe and I live in Southern California. I have a small lemon tree which I have enjoyed watching grow and it now has six lemons on it. While I was watering it yesterday I noticed what looked like a stick on one of the leaves and I tried to remove it when to my surprise it was alive. When those bright orange tongue-like antennae came out I was shocked and immediately went to grab my camera. Unfortunately I'm having difficulty uploading them, but it certainly looked like the pic you took. My sons and I spent time on the internet trying to figure out what type of a worm it was. Placed the leaf in a jar when I immediately got a whiff of that strong odor. I investigated the lemon tree and found his brother who I also placed in the jar. For hours we too didn't know what this unusual and quite ugly worm was. Until, I remembered taking a photograph of a beautiful Giant Swallowtail butterfly around two weeks ago, which kept flying or gliding around the lemon tree. We checked out Giant Swallowtails and there it was. By the time we found this out it was around 10pm and I immediately, went outside with a flashlight and placed each one on a leaf as I can't wait to watch these unattractive creatures turn into that beautiful and carefree butterfly. I see it was some time ago when you had posted this blog but since yours was the only one I could find I wanted to write and get some input from you as to maybe how long it takes for them to go from this stage to become a chrysalis. Anyway, I'm quite excited as with all the economic crisis that's going on, this has given me some personal hope that when things are this ugly they can soon become beautiful. Looking forward to hearing from you. sea4cy@aol.com
We live in Phoenix AZ & found one on our Orange tree. It really looked like a small diamondhead snake, but we knew it was a catepillar. My son freaked out when he saw what he thought was a forked tongue. Thanks for helping with our mystery!!
Gillilands in AZ
OMG I have one of those one my orange plants!!! It is defiantly cool!! And they do have these beady little eyes that sorta creep me out alot. The tongue was a big shocker though!! I used to have two, but know i have only 1 and dont know if the other ate it or a bird got it. Plus what happens if it doesn't get enough food, cause it has strippped my orange plant's leaves!!! Thanks for at least telling me what it is though.
I'm so thankful to find this information. I've just found these horrible little dragons all over my little lemon tree. So glad to now what they are, but the questions remains, how do I get rid of them? Will they kill my tree? I tried spraying them with a concoction, but they stuck out those red fangs and scared me to death. Can someone tell me how to rid my tree of them? I don't want to touch them, YUK!
Thanks for the info!
Wish I had known about this before I found one of these in my yard. I removed it from my dwarf lemon tree and, after checking it out in amazement, I moved it to the top of the backyard fence to keep it out of reach of my cats. Later I noticed a robin carrying the poor guy off. Unfortunately, we will have one less swallowtail this season -- but the robin and her babies have a full tummy tonight.
I know you feel badly about that, but Nature is cruel. I finally gave up and cut my whole lemon tree down. Haha, I guess that could be deemed cruel, too.
My grandkids found 4 of these little monsters on our lemon tree. We took them off and put them in a large jar with some branches with leaves for them to eat. We wanted to see what they will become and glad to know they will afterall be beautiful.. We live in Austin, TX
I'm in Austin TX as well- found about 6 or 7 on my citrus tree. Unfortunately they are going to be picked off and tossed into the woods to fend for themselves, my citrus tree is still too young to support an entire family of these things.
Last year they almost totally ate my lemon tree. I pulled a few off and squashed them, then put the recommended powder on my tree. That did the trick. I never saw any more of them. Unfortunately, I finally got tired of the tree with those long thorns and cut it down. I don't miss the tree or those nasty little dragons.
Just found 2 of these on my red grapefruit tree, June 29, 2012, 4 days after heavy rains. Long red tongue (split) reached all the way to its tail to deter me. PB, Lakeland FL.
They are in Houston too.I also thought it was bird poo, so I left it alone. I have a lemon, orange and grapefruit tree. They all had these nasty little caterpillars. It took me a good while to realize what they were. I decided to look up how to get red of them. That is how I ended up here. This all is extremely helpful to me. The biggest thing I learned, is that I probably won't lose my trees. When will this stop? The other thing I noticed is like pecking on the fruit itself. I don't think the caterpillars are responsible for that part. Can any one help with that? This will be my first fruit...and I would love to be able to enjoy eating it.
I ended up just plucking them off and killing them. I hated to do that, but nothing else worked. After I killed about 10, I never saw any more. I eventually ended up just cutting that tree down though because it had long needle like stickers on it which poked me every time I mowed past it.
I just found one.. It is so ugly.. Do you know if they are poisonous?
Joey from moundville alabama, found 5 on my orange tree today, did not know what they were, found this on internet now I know. They do put off a terrible smell, and they will eat off all the leaves.
Found about 4 of them on my tiny potted lemon tree in Houston. Thought it was bird poop until I tried to flick it off with a stick...Freaked out when it stuck out a forked tounge and omitted a horrible odor...Unfortunately that triggered the full commando mode within, and I sprayed them with white vinegar until they dropped! Had 12 tomato plants and 6 cucumber plants completely stripped this summer...Never found the culprit! Might have slightly over reacted...Now that I know what they could have been :(
OMG, this is the creepiest thing I have ever seen on a lemon tree and the tongue thing freaked me out. I have lived in Northern Florida for years and have always had at least one citrus tree and this is the first time I have seen one of these nasty things.
I don't understand how you all "killed" those catapillers!! So, they ate the leaves on your trees....the leaves grow back PEOPLE!! It's a SIN, killing a creature that through a miracle will turn into one of the most beautiful butterflies you will ever see!!! Next time you find one of "horribly frightening" 1-4 inch creatures call your local botanical society, many times they will be to put you in contact with someone that will come & remove & relocate them so they will survive !! Along with the " precious" leaves on your citrus! Plant two trees SHARE THE PLANT! Remember, They were HERE LONG BEFORE US! Educate,enjoy,embrace!
I'm sorry, All Knowing One, but the uneducated of the masses, all we see is a dinosaur looking creature shooting red fangs out at us as we are trying yo protect thr life of a tree. Red sharp fangs usually indicate danger to me. Maybe you should go on the warpath to educate all of us about these creatures before they appear.
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I found one on a citrus plant today, I had never seen anything like it...but everything you said is true...and it has a picture of a brown spider on it's back...the red horns came out and the horrible smell, and it reminded me of a rattlesnake in color and pattern and that 'head' that looks like a snake mouth...I pulled the leaf off that he was on and threw it into the woods...now I hope it finds another plant that it can attach to, who would have thought that such a horrible looking thing could become so beautiful?!!!!
I called the local nursury and they recommended relocating them to a milkweed plant if you don't want to kill them and are worried about your tree's leaves. Swallowtails are beautiful but I guess too many of the buggers could strip the leaves of a small tree. The leaves do grow back though. ~ Upland, CA 8/22/14
I found 6 or 7 of them on my tiny lemon tree and sprayed them for fear they will come back. I DID know what they were but couldn't bring myself to touch them to remove them.
Love the idea of moving them to milkweed, I'll do that next time, with a stick!
My son found one on our Meyers lemon tree leaf. Very interesting. Looks like a large bird dropping!
Thanks for the info, my lime tree has leaves to spare for these swallowtail treasures :))
Just found one on my baby lemon tree! So crazy looking and it smelled rotten! It did a lot of damage but we see those butterflies all the time. Thanks for the info!
I found several of these on my lime tree several months ago, removed them and threw the, away, until I looked them up and found out they were butterflies. I got them out of the trash and make a butterfly box. Well yesterday afternoon I looked in the box and one has became a beautiful black and yellow butterfly, I see a few others that are coming out also. What an experience.
In case anyone is still reading this, do not relocate this caterpillar to milkweed. They have very specific host plants. They will not eat milkweed, which is the host plant for Monarchs.
Thanks for the info! Certainly will sacrifice the leaves on my lemon tree for these beautiful butterflies!
Helo my name is Edward I just encountered one of the same caterpillars that you posted with my little brother and dad . After my dad touched the caterpillar it lets out a orange corned tongue and it lets out a awful odor. Who founded on our tangerine tree.
Thanks, Bruce! Found a pair of these on a small lemon and your great photos in Google Images helped me to understand them.
I've had a small tangelo tree for four years now and it hasn't grown a bit because it loses all of its leaves every year to these caterpillars. I'm honestly surprised they haven't killed it yet. Sorry to anyone who loves the butterflies, but I care more about my tree. I got ducklings a couple of weeks ago. Maybe they'll eat them.
Omg I'm taking care of 4 right now. At first they didn't stick out that red tongue. Day after, they did it. Cute meter. From 89 to 0.99. It made me wanna hurl.
I found out one today too. I removed it to somewhere else. Are they good for something. When do they become butterfly can they survive elsewhere and not on fruit tree?
What else can they eat? Because I would like to see it change.
Noticed them on my orange tree about a week ago! Two year old tree. Googled them and found out they were the giant swallowtail butterflies! The tree has not produced oranges,so I will grow butterflies! There were about 10 on there, just checked it and they are all wrapped in a shell awaiting to change and fly away! Still got two that are still catapiller's!
The first time I seen one was on my orange tree. It looked like it was deadly,but now I know better.
Today I saw one of these on my two year old orange tree. Had to look it up and I found your blog... turns out to be a caterpillar known as the "Orange dog", and it will change into a beautiful Giant Swallowtail Butterfly.
Thanks.
We live in South Carolina just a half hour north of the Georgia border. This is our first year at trying to grow some citrus trees (lemon) and found something has been devastating the new leaves as they come out. We couldn't figure it out but today we found three of these snake-looking caterpillars on our lemon tree.(one large and two smaller ones)My wife put them in a large glass container to see if they would change into something. While doing some research I came across your blog and immediately knew who the culprit was.
Another lemon tree here!
I'm in Fruitland Park FL, and just found 10 of these bad boys on my lime tree. Fangs are scary, one reached out almost a half inch. Lots of rain here in the last month.
Found several of these on our lemon tree. At first thought one was a piece of a snake. Awful looking. Love butterflies but don't want these things around. We are in Louisiana.
My grandson and I just found 2 large ones on our Meyer lemon tree in Baton Rouge.
Looking further down the on main branch , we found 5 tiny ones. Thanks, for the info. Knowlwdge is
Power! We plan on letting them feast on our leaves, and hopefully one day see beautiful Swallowtail butterflies.
I fed one to a freshly disturbed fire ant hill. That bugger deserved it after the feast it had on my citrus trees here in the upstate of South Carolina
Thank you for this! I found these ugly guys all over my citrus (persimmons) tree and your blog was the only way I found to identify them.
Can any body tell me how get rid it this out of my lemon tree, tank u
Nossa!!!
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Y si a mí me pasó lo mismo
oh wow! I was creeped out by this little guy! When I touched it, its antenna's came out I dropped it b/c I was a little shocked by it. I thought it would bite me with its fangs but I didn't feel anything. So, I picked it up again and put it on the grass next to the house. The next day, I researched and found the information about him online. I was impressed with the beautiful butterfly it would become so I looked for him where I left him, but sadly I found ants feasting on him. 😩
Educate, enjoy, embrace ..starve...!
I found a beautiful one on my lime tree today!
I found a few of these on my lemon tree. I took a long candle lighter and torched them. Took about a minute of burning to finally die. During that time it kept squirting green liquid out of its mouth and flailing its head back and forward towards me. Found three, all 3 did the same head throwing. I’m guessing the green juice was the cellulose from the leaves though
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