A to Z Visual Guide to Identifying Striped Caterpillars in Your Garden

Simple Visual Guide: Types of Striped Caterpillars That May Be Eating Your Plants

Striped caterpillars are among the most beautiful caterpillars you might find in your yard. Their striking patterns and bright colors make them easy to spot. To help you determine whether a caterpillar is friend or foe, here’s a simple visual guide to 17 common types of striped caterpillars you might encounter in the garden.

Linda LyWritten by Linda Ly

Identifying Striped Caterpillarsen

If you tend a garden, chances are you’ve your fair share of caterpillars on various edible and ornamental plants. They typically leave a trail of chewed-up leaves or skeletonized plants in their wake. While this is bad news for vegetable gardeners, caterpillars aren’t always destructive—at least, not on a noticeable level.

Striped caterpillars, in particular, are easy to spot in the early stages before they do too much damage, thanks to their bold colors and striking patterns that stand out against green foliage.

To find out what’s eating your plants, this simple A-to-Z visual guide will help you identify 17 of the most common striped caterpillars in your yard.

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Identifying Striped Caterpillars

While many striped caterpillars may look alike at first glance, they all have unique attributes that make them easy to identify, such as spines, horns, and other protrusions.

The tricky part is finding a caterpillar in a life stage (instar) where its appearance may not match the pictures below. All caterpillars go through multiple molts and instars before pupation, and their coloring may change each time.

Sometimes a striped caterpillar starts out green before it develops its telltale stripes, and sometimes it turns brown or gray before it pupates. So, besides appearance, consider the type of host plant it’s feeding on in order to properly ID the caterpillar.