They're baaaack!

It looks like we've got a fresh crop of io moth caterpillars on one of the redbud trees outside the office. Jen noticed them last night as she was leaving work. This time they're on the opposite tree from the last group of io caterpillars that were here in August.

I watched them for a little bit this morning. There are nine of them this time, and they're all clumped on a single branch. Funny. I wonder if they like to be around their brothers and sisters. I think they'll have to pick a new branch soon -- the one they're on is darn near defoliated.

It will be interesting to see how long this batch stays before they disappear. The last batch was around for maybe two weeks before they all vanished. I assume they pupated, but I never did see any coccoons, apparently because they leave the host plant in order to pupate.