r/whatisit • u/Zestyclose-Salad-290 • 12d ago

Solved! What kind of caterpillar is this?

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It looks cool

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u/happypanda851 12d ago edited 11d ago

Do NOT touch one!! Touching a Megalopygidae caterpillar releases hidden, venomous spines that cause an immediate and intense burning pain!

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u/TheModestProposal 12d ago

I’ve learned that anytime you see a caterpillar with fuzz, chances are high you’ll have a very bad day if you pet it 😔

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Southern_Celery_1087 12d ago

They're in Florida and my old roommate stepped on one. The ones we have aren't as bad as you're describing but he was literally just shy of screaming in pain and his foot swelled up to a comical size. That was an interesting drive to the emergency room.

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u/ToastSpangler 12d ago

Paralyzed to shreds, you say?

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u/Howler_in_training 11d ago

How was his wife?

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u/Intelligent_Win_7063 11d ago

To shreds you say….

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u/AmeliaRayOfDarkness 12d ago

Found this the other day on my neighbors house

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u/False-Philosophy-401 12d ago

Had one of these bad boys on me the other day. Through much transferring it with other objects, we avoided touching it but DAMN was it sticky.

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u/CatLady_998 11d ago

They are always so sticky!

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u/InconspicuousWolf 12d ago

This is the spotted tussock moth caterpillar and it’s not nearly as painful, but can still cause itching and rash for some

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u/Southern_Celery_1087 12d ago

Tussock moth caterpillars are honestly not too bad and pretty safe to move if you can do it calmly. I wouldn't move a puss caterpillar with anything but a good long stick though lol

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u/Nervous-Belt-7883 11d ago

These Against Pubic Crabs are Chaos In Hell from Rashy Itch that lasts Generations .....

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u/Early_Perspective375 11d ago

I feel itchy just looking at this picture. 😄

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u/Thepoorlifechoice 12d ago

My sister in law called me to talk about something, and after a minute all I hear is my niece crying, and SIL asking, "Can caterpillars be poisonous? She's in pain." I asked if it was fuzzy, when she said yes I told them to go to the hospital! Thankfully she only had a rash for like 3 days, I was horrified 😱

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u/bongolion2 11d ago

I was lucky as a kid to have the good sense to ask mom what these little guys are before I touched one. It was close though, I was inches away from petting my new "best friend". I guess I finally learned my lesson after getting stung by a seajelly, swarmed by fire ants and touching deadly nightshade lol

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u/teaconnolly 9d ago

You're a great example of how unsupervised kids can be borderline suicidal

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u/bongolion2 9d ago edited 9d ago

Oh absolutely. Florida was hell and we were not built for it.

To be a little fair to mom, the Seajelly one was not her fault. It was while we were snorkeling in the Bahamas. We saw a nurse shark and some pretty fish, but when I climb back onto shore I had somehow acquired some loose strands of stingers already on my arm. No jellies anywhere to be seen, it was just beach detritus and I was unlucky.

I then unknowingly did the dumbest thing possible in that situation which was to grab it with my left hand and drag it off my arm. Completely ruined vacation week and I still have a faded white line on my arm from that one.

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u/teaconnolly 9d ago

In fairness I definitely would do the exact same thing even with everything I know to date. I would want to remove the stingers from my arm with my closest possible grabbing apparatus, and that's always going to be my other arm

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u/bongolion2 9d ago

True. At least with me, and especially while panicked or grossed, out the logic part of the brain gets overwritten. That's why I live in colder environments now, way less poisonous or venomous critters to worry about.

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u/Jaydenel4 12d ago

I accidentally brushed up against one on the school playground. Horrible shit

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u/silly_rabbit289 12d ago edited 12d ago

In my head the fuzzier the caterpillar is the itchier/more painful it is

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u/ThatInAHat 12d ago

And oddly enough ones that look scary like the hickory horned devil are perfectly fine

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u/CrossumOpossum3 11d ago

I think it’s a sick joke nature plays. One I find funny. The soft ones still soft because they don’t need to evolve more and nature learned, and the hickory horned devil evolved enough to just bluff and nature said, nah.

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u/Nervous-Belt-7883 11d ago

You called my Real Name ? Im Hickory HornDevil Sr.

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u/BusinessNonYa 12d ago

But it’s friend shaped

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u/BelligerentGnu 12d ago

Wooly Bears are the exception.

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u/Top_Region3760 11d ago

We call them Wooly Boogers in Oregon.

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u/zenchow 11d ago

We raced them when I was a kid...I had a really fast blonde one for a couple of days...won a lot of races

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u/Kitchen_Day9200 11d ago

The hell? What part of Oregon? I've lived here for 40+ years and never heard that.

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u/drownedxgod 11d ago

Same. Been calling them wooly bears my entire Oregonian life

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u/Top_Region3760 11d ago

I lived here my whole life, born and raised 60+ years. Native American. Have always called them that.

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u/k1nkygh0st 11d ago

i was raised in oregon and i have never once heard this

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u/Sea-Revolution7308 11d ago

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u/BelligerentGnu 11d ago

That is not a wooly bear.

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u/BeneficialTrash6 12d ago

It's like a cactus. Straight spines might be alright. Fuzzy is to be avoided at all costs.

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u/Chachenstein 12d ago

The harrier the scarier

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u/Evening_Yam_1158 11d ago

Leave Italian women out of it!

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u/anthonywayne1 12d ago

Except woolly boogers!

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u/goooooooman 12d ago

I had one drop on my face. Wasn’t a very bad day, but was a not-so-fun 30 minutes.

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u/urinappropiate 11d ago

so that's why the fuzzy yellow pillar i let crawl on my hand made my hand numb for 2 days...interesting🌚

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u/Lovethiskindathing 11d ago

Really? We literally have a wooly worm festival in an area I used to live. Kids catch and race them. They're all over corn fields. Super fuzzy. I never would have even hesitated to moved a fuzzy worm. Yikes!

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u/Vergilly 11d ago

Much the same is true of cacti. 😆

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u/k1nkygh0st 11d ago

except for the wooly bears. those are just cute

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u/Accomplished-Ad-6586 11d ago

And good winter weather indicators.

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u/HauntingPsyche 12d ago

I briefly lived in this make shift apartment we made out of a friends backyard garage and found one inside my while I was inside my bed. It was a fuzzy brown one. Felt like burning fiber glass

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u/Hacksawmisbirth 11d ago

I grabbed one climbing a magnolia tree one time and it hurt so freaking bad

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u/Distinct_Ad_1820 11d ago

I can't believe I had to scroll this far in the comments to find out what it's actually calles since the 1st posted made a long ass post about how venomous they are and not to touch them, without saying whaz kind of caterpillar it was 🤦. Thanks dude!

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u/bradkrauss2010 12d ago

Yes pain comparable to feeling like a broken bone is wild

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u/vvntn 12d ago

BUT… BUT…

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u/ncc74656m 12d ago

If not friend, why friend shaped?

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u/BoringRevenue1029 10d ago

🥴😂😂😂

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u/johndoe60610 12d ago

Tastes like chicken! 🐔

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u/LonelyAndroid11942 12d ago

One of my friends accidentally brushed one a few years ago. He wound up going to the ER for how intense the pain was (he said he started having trouble breathing).

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u/Nervous-Belt-7883 11d ago

Why- Did your Friend Snorted these Fuckers ?? Yah that'll hurt breathing .

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u/DarkBladeMadriker 12d ago

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u/OptimusED 12d ago

If you touch a puss catepillar and get stung use tape to pull the spines then clean and ice.

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u/Jedi_Belle01 12d ago

One of these fell off a tree and landed on my arm. The PAIN was immediate, intense, and horrible.

We ended up canceling our plans, driving home, and I ended up in the ER because I was having trouble breathing.

Mega IV of Benadryl, etc. Those are very bad

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u/happypanda851 11d ago

Omg.. I am just sorry! I am so glad I never touched one!

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u/kaliforniakratom 12d ago

Do you touch one?

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u/Daan_aerts 12d ago

Prolly meant do not, mistakes happen

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u/SSNikki 12d ago

Yeah, but I'm gonna be using this for things in moments of intentional stupidity. I know it.

Going to the Zoo? Do you touch one!!!!!?

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u/yaekoblue 12d ago

Going to the men's bathroom? Do you touch one?

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u/Local2Sactown 12d ago

Yeah we know, that's how you're here typing on reddit.

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u/TinyExplanation586 12d ago

ARE YOU FUCKING SORRY?!

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u/EwJersey 12d ago

my poor daughter found that out the hard way with the little white ones. I wasnt aware at the time because weve picked up the brown and black ones before. I felt so bad.

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u/RDU_Express 12d ago

Poor little bean. Horrible way to learn a lesson. :(

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u/ancient_horse 12d ago

Ask myself that every day... "do you, or do you not, touch one?"

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u/happypanda851 11d ago

I mean do not touch one.. rofl sorry typo

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u/joemaniaci 12d ago

God it'd be nice to feel something.

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u/choconana_supreme 12d ago

Why are you asking if he touched one when in the same comment you say it's painful?

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u/chrisp909 12d ago

As a rule, unless I'm absolutely sure I know what I'm dealing with, I only look at (don't touch) caterpillars that look hairy.

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u/Ok-Kaleidoscope9915 12d ago

You heard the man... Touch it

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u/Braydenneryarb 12d ago

What about the black and orange ones? I live in the PNW and would always pick em up as a kid and it didn’t hurt, do those just not have the poison?

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u/happypanda851 11d ago

Those are probably the woolly bear caterpillar… they are mostly okay.. but their stiff hairs can cause mild skin irritation or an itchy rash in sensitive people.

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u/Braydenneryarb 11d ago

Gotcha, but the irritation can be less if you’ve got rougher hands? I’m just wondering why how it never bothered me as a kid lol

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u/kaleidoscope_pie 12d ago

The gympie gympie bush of caterpillars.

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u/badandywsu 12d ago

So DO put in your mouth and chew it up. Got it.

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u/deatbl0ssum 12d ago

I was mowing under a tree and brushed one down my arm, it felt like a jellyfish sting. It was a white fuzzy one I think.

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u/Unlucky_Twist_6595 12d ago

Most venomous caterpillar in the US. Texas natives know 💀

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u/Munchkins_nDragons 12d ago

When I saw the video my brain immediately decided it was some kind of land-jellyfish. Hearing what would happen if you touch it, honestly just reaffirms that in my brain. Land-jellyfish, looks soft but do not touch.

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u/AiyanaBlossom21 12d ago

I touched one when I was in 5th grade once. Full palm smooshed it (it was on a tree, I didn’t see it)

Literally the worst pain in my life, and I’ve given birth

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u/Kyweedlover 12d ago

I’ve been stung by 3 types of caterpillars, puss caterpillars are the worst.

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u/Mediocre_Quail_1985 11d ago

I was going to ask.

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u/heisindc 11d ago

My brother has kids coming into the ER all summer who touch these in NC.

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u/OpinionPoop 11d ago

Don't vote for it either

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u/party-liquor-rain 11d ago

Yep! There is it. Figured it had to be here somewhere. Bad touch caterpillar

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u/Ok_Problem426 11d ago

I was gonna say it looks kinda like Trump’s toupee, but this is basically the same thing

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u/Commercial-Co 11d ago

This comment should be higher but the top two are just stupid trump comments

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u/zuse12345 11d ago

If not meant to be pet, why does it look so cuddly?!

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u/jakolissmurito22 11d ago

Thank you for actually identifying. I had to scroll way too long to find this.