Saddleback caterpillar

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Wesleyan Professor Elise Springer likes to takes long walks in the woods with her camera — check out this wild-looking caterpillar that she spotted near Wadsworth State Park! Elise writes,  “The rear end of the saddleback (Acharia stimulea) looks like the head of an alien. The head, meanwhile, looks like a porcupine crossed with the back of a retro bus. This one was a bit downstream of Wadsworth, munching on the leaves of the fast-spreading autumn olive.” You can see more photos of the saddleback here, and much more about Middletown’s plants and creatures on Elise’s blog, Outwalking