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A banded woolly bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) with fuzzy black and orange bands crawls on a textured wooden surface.
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Woolly bear
Woolly bear A banded woolly bear caterpillar is the larval stage of the Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella).

woolly bear

insect larva
Also known as: wooly bear
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

woolly bear, the caterpillar of any of several species of tiger moth.

One of the most well-known species is the banded wooly bear, which is the larva of the Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella), known as the banded woolly bear, is brown in the middle and black at both ends. The width of the black bands is purported to predict the severity of the coming winter: the narrower the bands, the milder the weather will be.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello.