White Flannel Moth

I am located in Southern Maryland. My students found numerous caterpillars on a nearby bush/tree on the playground. We immediately took notice of the color pattern and the hairs, which seemed to indicate a poisonous caterpillar. After some research, we discovered that it is indeed a stinging caterpillar. We plan to carefully observe the caterpillar until it turns into a moth. The students know not to touch any part of the caterpillar.

I work in Metairie, La. close to East Jefferson Hospital. We have a row of Holly Bushes next to our building where I was taking a smoke break. I guess I must have brushed up to one of the bushes and 2 of these Puss Caterpillers got onto my pant's leg. I didn't notice them there until I went back inside my office and sat down. They were slowly crawling up my pant's leg. I noticed how hairy they were, yet quite small about 1/2 inch long. I recently had a stinging experience with a lo moth caterpiller so I didn't want a repeat since I wasn't sure of this one's identity. I took some tissue paper and took both of them off my pants and put them in my garbage can next to my desk. The next morning they both had crawled out of the trash can and were crawling up the wall. I took some more tissue pap... read moreer and picked them up and went outside with them where I put them back in the bushes. This morning I went on the internet and identified them. WOW! I didn't realize what I was dealing with. The Puss Caterpiller (Flannel Moth) are considered one of the most poisonous in this region. I can see how unknowing people could get stung bad by these furry, cute little munchkins. These are real bad news!

This stupid little caterpillar stung me on the neck this morning and it hurts. I live in south central Louisiana, about 25 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Date; August 28, 2009. I have mimosa, redbud and hackberry trees which appear to be host."They have a potent sting that left little red spots that seem to correspond to the yellow bumps down the dorsal black stripe. They have lots of hair-like projections from these nodules (somewhat visible in the closeup. " from "bugguide.net". I have lived here for 27 years and this is the first time to get stung by this small caterpillar. It took me about an hour to find info. So far baking soda and solarcane spray has NOT stopped burning. It left a welp about twice as big as the bug, on my neck but so far my inner throat is not swelling which what... read more i was really worried about. Hope this info will come up if someone searches for "STINGING CATERPILLARS" - White Flannel Moth, Norape ovina.