These are fond of living and damaging the Drumstick tree esp. its fresh blooms and new leaf growth at the tips. They go up there to consume and come back the the trunk below to rest. I'd think they do the eating at night and live in colonies like this. If we touch the hairs, it sticks and can give you a real itch. The hairs have to be removed one by one and I had the bad experience of having hundreds when I accidentally laid my hand on a weed while pulling them out. It was paining for the next two days even after I removed most hairs with tweezers using a watch-repairer's eye-piece - those hairs are so thin! The best way is to burn them off, which I did after I took this picture and felt sorry for those creatures. I had to do it, much against my wish.
Hairy caterpillars
What type of butterfly or moth do these become? Have you seen the adult form?
I remember that as a child, we were taught to approach the fuzzy caterpillars with caution, as these were the ones most likely to "sting".
They don't sting, we get stung!! No idea what type of butterfly it turns out to be. I have not watched one go through the full cycle.
They look like some species of webworm:
http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=webworm
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