Caterpillars can grow to about 7 cm in length. All have a small eyespot in the center of the forewing, and a very large eyespot in the middle of the hindwing.
Polyphemus caterpillars eat maple, birch, willow, and several other trees but are seldom abundant enough to cause any real damage.
As big as they are, they are really hard to see among the foliage when they're resting. The polyphemus moth also has been known by the genus name Telea but it and the Old World species in the genus Antheraea are not considere… Polyphemus Moth Carterpillar The host plant serves as the foraging ground, which nourishes it to attain the size of about 4 inches. The name is because of the large eyespots in the middle of the hind wings. It takes about 10 days for the egg to hatch into a tiny caterpillar and about 5-6 weeks to grow into the full its size of about 3 inches long and 3/4 inch in diameter. Adults are large (4 to 6 inch wingspan), with a background of shades of brown and marked with reddish and white and darker markings; polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus (Cramer), caterpillars grow to 3 inches long, are smooth, light green with red, orange or yellow tubericles adorned by short hairs. After encasing themselves in the host plant, they begin on the journey of spinning brown silk cocoons. The caterpillars are green in all instars. Adult polyphemus moths are large and butterfly-like. The polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus (Cramer), is one of our largest and most beautiful silk moths. When they hatch they will spray this liquid that smells like coffee. We moved them from the aquarium to a butterfly/moth enclosure so they would have mesh to hold on to after they hatched. Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus) The series of photos above start with a Polyphemus caterpillar emerging from the egg. It's closely related to the cecropia moth (above). The ground color varies greatly; some specimens are brown or tan, others are bright reddish brown. This is another big caterpillar -- about the size and thickness of your thumb. Each abdomen segment has a slanted yellow line that is purple-brown in color. It is named after Polyphemus, the giant cyclops from Greek mythology who had a single large, round, eye in the middle of his forehead (Himmelman 2002).
The Polyphemus moths will eclose (come out of their cocoons) in mid to late May when the outdoor temperatures are warm. They have 6 orange tubercles and bristles on each segment of their body. Polythemus moths, as caterpillars, are bright green with a reddish brown head.