Hi, back when I was in middle school I found a caterpillar in the school's football court (football, soccer, whatever you call it, this post is not about it). It was green and it had a red head with horns that made it look like the dragon Smaug from The Hobbit. So I named it Smaug and showed it to my science teacher, and she told me it would be cool to take care of it in the school's lab. We took photos of it and send them to an entomologist, but he told us he didn't know the species and that we would have to wait to get an ID. Soon the caterpillar became a cocoon, and I was super excited to see what it would look like. Sadly, the cocoon ended up dying, it became all dark black and it had a hole in it. I was so sad. I decided to do some research but I couldn't find anything on it at the time, but recently I found out about owl butterflies and their caterpillars and it seems to be a match, except for the color. Most of the pictures I can find are brown, but the shape of the head and the patterns on the body are the same, I remember perfectly.
So I am assuming it's a regional variant of some kind. Maybe it's because where I live the climate is more tropical? (Southern Mexico btw). This is puzzling me.
(Unrelated, but I would like to become an entomologist, I am assuming you have to study biology right? Just a side question).
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/Entomology/comments/obfirs/do_owl_butterfly_caterpillars_have_regional/
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