They have six proper legs, like all insects, but also up to five pairs of stumpy prolegs with little hooks that help them to hang onto things, and to move in a wave-like motion. The caterpillar has six front legs, called true legs. Credit: Bruce Beattie / WTML Caterpillars are a kind of animal called an insect. Insects have three body parts and two antennae on their heads. Caterpillars use small hooks on their feet to climb plants.

An insect only stays in their caterpillar form for around two to three weeks after which they transform into pupas before emerging as either a moth or a butterfly. Spiders. Caterpillars have six eyes, although they cannot see very well. They are often pointed or hooked to help the caterpillar grip tasty leaves. Butterflies & Moths. Ticks & Mites. Caterpillars have soft bodies. The true legs will become the six legs of the moth when the caterpillar transforms into its adult form. Head. Bees, & Wasps. Basics.

Caterpillars have an external covering called an exoskeleton. Behavior & Communication. Like most insects, caterpillars have three body parts; head, thorax, and abdomen.

Amphibians.
Caterpillars vary in size and can be as small as 1 mm up to 14 cm. Ants.

Beetles. True Bugs, Aphids, Cicadas, and Hoppers. A caterpillar is the larvae or ‘baby’ form of insects that belong in the order Lepidoptera which consists of butterflies and moths. Caterpillars are insects, just like their parent butterflies or moths. The three body parts are called the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.