The Caterpillar Lab

The Caterpillar Lab The Caterpillar Lab is passionate about showcasing the amazing diversity of northeastern caterpillars
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The Caterpillar Lab is passionate about showcasing the amazing diversity of northeastern caterpillars through educational programs, the arts, and sciences.

Some quick finds from around Bedrock Gardens in Lee NH on our caterpillar walks yesterday. Today’s walk will leave from...
08/16/2026

Some quick finds from around Bedrock Gardens in Lee NH on our caterpillar walks yesterday. Today’s walk will leave from the caterpillar display tent at 2pm. Register at the front entry kiosks of youd like to join!

Meanwhile, the caterpillar exhibit will run from 10-4 today!

The Caterpillar Lab will be back at Bedrock Gardens in Lee, NH, for our annual caterpillar show this coming weekend! Joi...
08/11/2026

The Caterpillar Lab will be back at Bedrock Gardens in Lee, NH, for our annual caterpillar show this coming weekend! Join us Saturday and Sunday from 10am – 4pm, with TCL Director Sam Jaffe additionally leading an informal caterpillar-finding and host plant walk at 2pm each day.

We’ve been coming to Bedrock Gardens for over a decade and have many wonderful memories of bringing our creatures, microscopes, and stories to this remarkable site, nestled among amazing plants and habitats and filled with unique art and opportunities for discovery.

This two-day event is for everyone: families, kids and adults, beginners and entomologists alike. Come explore with us!

And if you can’t make it to Bedrock, worry not! The Caterpillar Lab’s free Open Hours will be running as usual this Friday and Saturday. Check our website for details.

(Insider hint... it’s Hickory Horned Devil season at TCL! Join us at a program to see these incredible beasts!)

07/26/2026

Come see one of our largest caterpillar lab programs this upcoming week at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine!

From Wednesday, July 29th through Sunday, August 2nd, you can come see our live caterpillar displays at the gardens everyday between 10am-3pm!

From giant caterpillars like the magnificent hickory horned devil to meet up close, to spiny slug caterpillars shedding under our microscope - you can easily spend hours admiring the sheer diversity of creatures we’ll have on display and can teach you all about!

Tomorrow night! Join us at The Caterpillar Lab for a night of mothlighting to celebrate national moth week!The lab will ...
07/23/2026

Tomorrow night! Join us at The Caterpillar Lab for a night of mothlighting to celebrate national moth week!

The lab will be closed this weekend (July 24th & 25th) during our typical open hours as we prep for one of our largest outreach programs at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens next week - but you can still come see some moths (and caterpillars!) at our mothlighting event tomorrow night from 8:30pm-11pm!

It’s looking like a warm night, so we can expect to see lots of incredible insects (even species as dazzling as this giant leopard moth) paying us a visit. Registration is FREE, sign up via the link in our bio!

You can also join us this Saturday for MORE mothlighting! On July 25th, from 8:30-10:30pm, join us for a Moth Ball hosted by the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center in Brattleboro, VT! Sign up via the BEEC’s website for a night of mothlighting, caterpillar searching, and other moth-themed festivities - moth week only comes once a year!

Photo by: Jack Forrester

07/20/2026

Happy moth week!

Come celebrate with us at The Caterpillar Lab! This Friday night, 7/24, we’re hosting our second free mothlighting event at the lab:

From 8:30pm-11pm we’ll have our powerful mothlights setup around the lab in order attract some of the vast insect biodiversity we can expect to see this time of year. If you’ve never been to a mothlight before, what better time than moth week?

Last month we hosted our first in-house mothlighting event at the brand new lab space, and it was a big success - this video features just a few of the insects we saw that night!

If you plan on joining us, we just ask that you signup via the link below! 💻🐛

07/16/2026

Have you ever seen the respiratory, circulatory, AND nervous system of a live monkey slug caterpillar?

Somehow it might not even be the most incredible view you could see live under our microscope when you visit The Caterpillar Lab! 🐛🔬

Join us this Friday and Saturday (noon-5pm) for our FREE open hours at the lab! Endless stories under the microscope, dozens of live displays filled with native caterpillars for you to meet up close and personal, and our team of expert educators to guide you through it all!

This Saturday, you can also catch The Caterpillar Lab at the Old Home Day celebration in Swanzey, NH, from 9:30am to 1:30pm!

07/12/2026

By popular demand - here is the moment when my little collection of Acronicta vulpina decided to jump ship and wander off across the wrangle counter.

A. vulpina is mostly a northern species, ranging across northern New England, Canada, and down through the Rocky Mountains and Cascades in the West. There is a sister species in Europe called Acronicta leporina.

Currently, the European A. leporina is known as "The Miller" and the North American A. vulpina is known as "The Miller Dagger". This seems silly. The common names don't do much to distinguish the two species, and given the wonderful character of their scientific names – leporina meaning hare (the animal) and vulpina meaning fox – I think we could do better. Maybe "The Fox" and "The Hare", or at least "The Foxy Dagger" for these plush pillars and their frosty and sleek adult moths. Discuss!

Lucky to have an Acronicta vulpina dagger moth show up at my porch light this year and lay some eggs. Now, a few weeks ...
07/12/2026

Lucky to have an Acronicta vulpina dagger moth show up at my porch light this year and lay some eggs. Now, a few weeks later, many many final instar floofs. Generally we are just a little too far south for these hairballs.

Between a busy open hours at The Lab and a program at the Worcester EcoTarium today… I’ve also been running our printer!...
07/10/2026

Between a busy open hours at The Lab and a program at the Worcester EcoTarium today… I’ve also been running our printer! We often have to get our prints done outside of the lab, but there is something so satisfying about pulling these out of the computer and into the world ourselves :)

Join us this weekend at the EcoTarium in Worcester, MA and at VINS in Quechee, VT!!We will be at the EcoTarium Friday (7...
07/10/2026

Join us this weekend at the EcoTarium in Worcester, MA and at VINS in Quechee, VT!!

We will be at the EcoTarium Friday (7/10) and Saturday (7/11) from 10am-3pm.

Check us out at VINS on Saturday (7/11) from 10am-4pm!

REMINDER: Open Hours at the Lab will be canceled Saturday (7/11)!

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13 Main Street
Marlborough, NH
03444

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