"Alien" Moth, Skinny Spiders and Camouflaged caterpillars

I found some interesting creatures at school today, 1 in my room and 2 outside. The first was a couple of Looper caterpillars that had bitten off petals from the Black-eyed Susans and stuck them on their backs. There are 2 caterpillars in this photo. Can you see them? They are very well camouflaged!




Later I had to laugh when I saw this funny moth on the side of the school building! Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, this guy looked as though he had been created to be a cartoon character! :) Actually, it is a male Manto Tussock Moth! Check out those cool curved antennae!










I'm probably one of the only teachers in my school (perhaps the whole school system) that would get excited to find a pair of spiders in my classroom! I noticed a couple of Long-bodied Cellar spiders near my back door. They eat insects and even other spiders, so I just leave them alone. I had to put it in a Critter Cage to get a good photo, that why there is backwards Japanese writing in the picture! This is the male, he was quite a bit larger than the female.









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