This caterpillar was photographed while munching on the flowers of the desert mallow in Big Morongo Canyon, in Southern California.
This critter is the larva of the White Lined Sphinx Moth. This spring they are all over the desert wildflowers in Southern California. According to my books, they will eat a wide variety of plants, and thus at times have large explosion of numbers in the dry climate of the west. It appears that this is one of those years.
Another pretty butterfly at Safari Park, San Diego, CA.