Those who read this forum are aware of my pattern that I call "Bill's Black Kat" (see story of my discovery on the LJRA FORUM). Several years ago I discovered that this very large caterpillar falls into the "j" from the tree canopy throughout the watershed and the "j" trout eat them...big time! While I spent a fair amount of effort developing the pattern I also tried to determine just what the name of this 2" long black cat. with white fuzz was, but I never succeeded. Even after contacting PSU entymologists, no ID. Now one of our members, Greg Shustrick, has solved the Black Kat Mystery. Greg sent me a link to a description with photos that exactly describes our "j" bug. It is a "Walnut Caterpiller", here's the link.
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidls/walnutcat/walnutfidl.htm
Bill | Return to News | | 
