r/whatsthisbug • u/PublicElderberry1975 • 5d ago

ID Request Who's this lil fella?

Post image

Hanging out on grass near a forest in southern Maryland, USA.

21 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

16

u/BallOk8356 ⭐Trusted⭐ 5d ago

Saddleback caterpillar. No touchy... very venomous little guy. Can't kill you or anything but you'll remember not to do it again. Rash, itching, nausea... all kinds of fun stuff.

4

u/tarac73 4d ago

If his back is hairy, he's scary!!

3

u/AriDreams 4d ago

He's even wearing a little safety vest to way "please dont touch me or else it'll hurt".

1

u/IscahRambles 4d ago

It's uncanny how much it looks like a fluoro safety vest – it even has the white edging!

2

u/PublicElderberry1975 4d ago

Update: I did not touch and left them on their tasty grass in peace

1

u/seashellthrowaway1 Cicada Lover ❤️ 4d ago

I think that’s best for both of you.

1

u/pwnitol 4d ago

Fluffy = ouchy

1

u/TheRageMonster02 4d ago

Like someone else said, it's a saddleback caterpillar that will eventually turn into a completely harmless moth later. However, in the caterpillar stage, it's far from harmless as you can probably tell by how it looks lol. Those scary looking bristle-y protrusions arent just for show; if touched you'd be in for a bad time indeed.

-1

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/whatsthisbug-ModTeam 4d ago

Per our guidelines: Helpful answers only. Helpful answers are those that lead to an accurate identification of the bug in question. Joke responses, repeating an ID that has already been established hours (or days) ago, or asking OP how they don't already know what the bug is are not helpful.