When the lady says, "Don't touch it," she means it. This is probably a caterpillar called Megalopyge opercularis and according to Wikipedia:
The 'fur' of the larva contains venomous spines that cause extremely painful reactions in human skin upon contact. The reactions are sometimes localized to the affected area but are often very severe, radiating up a limb and causing burning, swelling, nausea, headache, abdominal distress, rashes, blisters, and sometimes chest pain, numbness, or difficulty breathing (Eagleman 2008). Additionally, it is not unusual to find sweating from the welts or hives at the site of the sting.
It turns into a pretty neat looking moth too.
Thanks to Goliathus.com for the ID.
That larva is horrifying. And the moth? I have always been freaked out by those. They look like they need to shave their legs, and that they have sinister thoughts.
Gotta go. I think the Mothership has come for me.
Posted by: Julie | September 26, 2008 at 10:33 AM
We used to have something that looked suspiciously like this back in Texas. We called them asps, like the snake.
Posted by: BillyDinPVD | September 26, 2008 at 04:35 PM
's cute!
Posted by: michael5000 | September 30, 2008 at 09:37 PM
looks like hairy wookie tick
Posted by: joseph | October 26, 2008 at 08:10 PM
Real cute!
Posted by: Nana | November 15, 2009 at 10:59 AM