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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.

Tis the season for abandoned, but still lovely, curious, and storied leaf mines in changing oak leaves. I gathered some...
10/14/2026

Tis the season for abandoned, but still lovely, curious, and storied leaf mines in changing oak leaves. I gathered some today with the intention of making some new leaf-miner pendants this fall.

One of the perks of our new building… two larger public bathrooms with ample wall space. And so we begin work on our re...
10/10/2026

One of the perks of our new building… two larger public bathrooms with ample wall space. And so we begin work on our restroom galleries. Frass pellets in one, maybe frass-mimicking moths and caterpillars in another. Too much? Not far enough?

'Saddle up' for a great program with some of our charismatic fall caterpillars! The Lab will be at the Harvard Public ...
10/05/2026

'Saddle up' for a great program with some of our charismatic fall caterpillars!

The Lab will be at the Harvard Public Library this Wednesday, October 7th, from 12:30 - 3:30pm!

Get an up close look at caterpillars of all shapes and sizes. You might see some that stand out, some that blend in, and some that are just...weird!

Registration Required:
https://harvardpubliclibrary.libcal.com/event/17346473

📸: Saddleback Caterpillar (Acharia stimulea)

Central and Western Massachusetts friends! We’re bringing The Caterpillar Lab to the Great Falls Discovery Center in Tur...
10/01/2026

Central and Western Massachusetts friends! We’re bringing The Caterpillar Lab to the Great Falls Discovery Center in Turners Falls, MA this Saturday, October 3!

Join us from 11:30–4:30pm for a free, drop-in exploration exhibit of the specialized caterpillars that are active as we head into fall.

We will have many late-season specialties like technicolored brown-hooded owlets, overwintering woolly bears, twig-mimicking inchworms, and, of course, a selection of weird and always surprising slug caterpillars. Add to that all the host plants, a digital microscope display and presentation, and our educators, and it should be a busy late-season program!

Additionally, at 4:30pm we will be leading a caterpillar and host plant walk through the area. The walk is registration only and space may be limited so please see the Great Falls Discovery Center’s event information for registration details and current availability. Link in comments.

Saturday, October 3
Great Falls Discovery Center
2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA
Live exhibit: 11:30–4:30
Caterpillar walk: 4:30–5:30

The program is sponsored by Magic Wings, the Greenfield Garden Club, and the Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center.

We hope to see you there!

09/21/2026

THE EXTRAORDINARY CATERPILLAR is ON THE BIG SCREEN IN KEENE THIS THURSDAY!

This Thursday evening, The Extraordinary Caterpillar is coming to the Putnam Theater at Keene State College for a special local screening, co-sponsored by the Harris Center for Conservation Education, The Caterpillar Lab, and the KSC Film Society!

And The Caterpillar Lab will be there with caterpillars too!

Come at 7:00 pm to meet some of the living stars of our late-season displays before the film begins at 7:30. September is a wonderfully strange time in the caterpillar world, and we'll be bringing along bizarre slug caterpillars, convincing overwintering twig mimics, mounds of woolly bears, and some of the last oversized giant silk moth caterpillars of the season.

Then settle into the theater for The Extraordinary Caterpillar. The film isn't regularly available to watch, so this is a rare chance to see it, and to see it on the big screen here in the Monadnock Region, where it was filmed in part!

After the film, stick around! Sam Jaffe will be there for a live Q&A to talk caterpillars, natural history, the making of the film, and answer whatever questions the film brings up!

We hope to see you there!

Thursday, September 24 | 7–9 pm
Putnam Theater at Keene State College
FREE and open to the public
Registration is encouraged (see link in comments)

Grapevine skeletonizers, Harrisina americana, are having a banner season in the Northeast. The caterpillars we find arou...
09/17/2026

Grapevine skeletonizers, Harrisina americana, are having a banner season in the Northeast. The caterpillars we find around The Caterpillar Lab in NH and throughout southern New England are striped with white undersides, while those in northern Vermont and Ontario are spotted with yellow undersides.

I spent some quality procrastination time going through more than 3,000 iNaturalist records, scoring striped versus spotted caterpillars and plotting them on a map. The results were pretty interesting—the two forms separate out significantly in the North, but become broadly mixed farther south.

I also took another look at DNA “barcode” data and found two very distinct genetic groups currently being called Harrisina americana. In the Northeast, their ranges seem to line up well with the two caterpillar forms. I suspect we have a rather complicated story of two species here, rather than just two color forms, overlapping across the eastern United States.

This is a classic day-dreamy rabbit hole for me to go down after finding some strange spotty, venomous, grape-feeding caterpillars in northern Vermont last weekend. I'm hoping to work with research partners on this, and maybe next season we’ll get to introduce you to a newly recognized critter that has been under our noses all this time.

Tell us—are the skeletonizers in your neighborhood striped? Spotted? Both?

09/16/2026

Hairstreaks and blues on tall bush clover

Upcoming New Hampshire Open Hours and a Northern Vermont Event!After a wonderful holiday weekend with Garden in the Wood...
09/10/2026

Upcoming New Hampshire Open Hours and a Northern Vermont Event!

After a wonderful holiday weekend with Garden in the Woods in Massachusetts, we are BACK home in New Hampshire with our celebrated Open Hours this Friday and Saturday from 12–5pm each day!

In addition to Open Hours at the Lab, a team will be heading to far northern New England for the Missisquoi Wildlife Fair in Swanton, Vermont, this Saturday the 12th from 10am–2pm. If you’re in the Burlington, Vermont area and have been hoping to catch a Caterpillar Lab exhibit, here’s a great chance!

Late summer and early fall are especially interesting times to visit and learn about caterpillars. Our displays are packed with little-known and fascinating species, including the recently revealed Pink Star Moth caterpillar, a dozen or more species of spectacular slug caterpillars and, of course, JUMBO giant silk moth caterpillars!

Whether you find us in Dublin, New Hampshire, or Swanton, Vermont, there will be plenty to discover.

We look forward to seeing you here or there!

09/03/2026

This upcoming program at Garden in the Woods in Framingham MA could be thought of as “Sam unbound”. We’ve put together a huge diversity of native caterpillars, including some really exciting and little known species like the pink star moth, iconic juggernauts like the hickory horned devil, and bizarre twists like the aquatic Bellura diver caterpillars and filled up every square inch we were given with displays. Usually I try not to go too too crazy with these programs (lies) but this Friday through Monday we went for over-the-top. Come see our largest late summer program!

09/02/2026

Reminder that The Caterpillar Lab will be closed this Friday and Saturday during our typical open hours, but you can catch us and loads of caterpillars at Garden in the Woods this weekend instead!

From Friday (9/4) through Monday (9/7), The Caterpillar Lab exhibit at Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA, is open to the public everyday between 10:30am to 3:30pm!

This is one of our last big traveling exhibits of the season, so there will be no shortage of amazing caterpillars to meet and unbelievable moments to witness - like this monkey slug caterpillar molting its skin live under our microscope during our exhibit at Garden in the Woods last summer!

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13 Main Street
Marlborough, NH
03444

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