The very faint banding across the caterpillar's body, makes me reasonably sure it's a salt marsh moth caterpillar. SMM cats are fairly common, but I've never found more than one on a plant, or, for that matter, more than one in a general area. So unless the plant yours is eating is small and prized, I'd leave it where it is. They make a beautiful moth - Here's one I found a few years ago, with the "face" in full view. The coloring of these caterpillars varies, and the same caterpillar will change with different instars, but the very faint banding across the body is diagnostic - If you want to remove it, please just move it to a plant you don't care about being chewed a little. Sherry

Thanks Michael. I continued to search with your answer and... well, got a bit lost between all those bugs, Lepidopteran, Symphytan, Coleopteran (I'm not very good at this). Then I asked the question on a usenet forum and someone suggested Acantholyda hierogliohica. Began to search again and found this page (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Acantholyda_hierogliohica) where there seems to be a match (the picture on the left is exactly what I found on the shoots). Another page which seems to confirm : http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=4544076. Olivier.

TigerDawn - I just now reread your post about the chrysalis on a Daylily leaf. Most butterflies wander before pupating, empty their gut (purging), and then fasten themselves to something other than their host plant, to shed their skin a final time to reveal the chrysalis. Many larvae can navigate great distances before they finally find a spot to pupate. That's not to say they don't ever pupate on the host plant, but generally speaking, they do tend to go "walk-about" in the garden. OT - I'm growing about 10-12 Tomato plants, 5 peppers, several Okras (dwarf) in the ground, about 4 cukes, several squash (scallop, yellow, and Zuke), several bean varieties, a couple each of dwarf Watermelon, Canteloupe, and Pumpkin. Susan

Thank you for the feedback and the name. I thought that's what it was but wanted to get a second opinion, you find so many mislabeled photographs online you can never be sure. :)