Becca spotted this caterpillar crawling through the lawn. It’s hard to say for sure, but we believe this may be a cutworm moth caterpillar in the genus Agrotis. Cutworms live at the soil surface and feed at night by grazing on plant shoots. And although some are major agricultural pests, most are not. Most adults are nocturnal and wear cryptic patterns of brown and gray. Their long, pointed forewings are typically held tent-like over the body at rest. Cutworm moths (subfamily Noctuinae) are part of the owlet moth family (Noctuidae), the largest family of moths, boasting more than 2,900 species here in North America, or more than one-fourth of all our Lepidoptera.
Photo by: Rebecca Miner on 5/13/21 in Missoula, MT