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What in the world is this caterpillar?!

Yumyumyellow

Yumyumyellow

I found this while out on a walk this evening and have no idea what it is... any thoughts? does it stay or should it go?

IMG_2471.jpg
 
You sir, are very brave! I don't know what type of caterpillar it is. I do know that it sure is scary looking.

This looks like it could be it:

http://www.hiltonpond.org/thisweek020608.html
 
oh, awesome! I had a feeling but wasn't sure... we haven't had a lot of them in recent years and I could never remember finding one this large. maybe half a finger length, never one that fit across my palm
 
While the Leopard Moth does look bitching cool, you might not give it a second thought if the fuzzy was chomping on your favorite pepper plant :-0
 
PHB said:
You still have your hand ?

Here we have a lot of Pine Processionary caterpillar, if you touch one you'll regret it. My dog lick one once, we almost had to ask the vet to kill him.
Click to expand...

it's definitely not one of those... it's a giant wooly bear for sure because of the red banding. sure tickled the heck out of my hand. basically the only things in my area that are deadly and small are copperheads and i already took care of them this week :D
 
The only giant moth on our farm is a big, brown monstrosity. The first two I saw, I thought one was a hummingbird, the other appeared to be a bat at first glance. It was as big as my hand. I thought they were cool....ugly, but cool..........until I researched them and learned that the horn worm is its predecessor.

once I found out that one horn worm can decimate four plants in just a few hours.........and we had hundreds.....I no longer thought the moth was cool.
 
the sphynx moth could be mistaken for a hummingbird, we have the clearwing ones and they're a lot more prolific here than actual hummingbirds. can't forget they're part of our ecosystem too. we also have braconid wasps that paralyze them and lay their eggs in them, which are really beneficial; once they hatch they go off to infect other hornworms and eat "caterpillars, beetles, aphids, squash bugs and stink bugs"
 
The only giant moth I've ever seen in my life was on 2 occasions a lunar moth. The caterpillars look too much like those horned tomato killers though.
 
they sure do! very easy to mistake them. I used to see them all the time as a kid but between all the droughts and BT spraying in my area I haven't seen them in at least 10 years
 
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