Comments for Black Spikey & Orange Stripes (Giant Leopard moth caterpillar)
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Comments for
Black Spikey & Orange Stripes (Giant Leopard moth caterpillar)

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this caterpillar scared my dog
by: Anonymous

I had to look this one up too last year-and found that it was a leopard moth caterpillar. I heard my dog barking like crazy and I went outside to see what the big emergency was. He looked like he was barking and angry at the ground-then I saw this giant fat, fuzzy thing making its way across the patio. My dog (a pitbull by the way) was scared and barking at a caterpillar. I moved it to the garden.
jackson michigan
by: Anonymous

My granddaughter just showed me a black with red/orange stripes and puffs of black spikes. I have never seen one of these before.
Giant Leopard moth caterpillar
by: Moni

Dear Anonymous
As I state in the very first comment(see bottom of comment page) The spines do not sting.
Therefore it is not dangerous.
There are a few caterpillars that do have spines that can sting if handled. If you don't handle them then you don't have to worry about it. :-)
catapiler
by: Anonymous

i have the same one to. how do i now if it is dangerous
caterpillar
by: fcdgdcgf

i just was outside and saw the same exact thing. i am in maryland. i was looking all over the enternet to find this.
Giant leopard moth caterpillar
by: Moni

Thanks Michele for checking.
Great to know what it is. Some of the images did look more orange than red and most of those were caterpillars in the south...so may be a regional difference.
Most references say that sometimes you see the male moths at lights, but the females do not come to lights. There were several caterpillars in my yard this fall but I did not see the moths at my porch lights this summer either.
In the south, you should have two generations of this insect. Perhaps you will see more this next year!
Giant Leopard Moth it is!
by: Michele

After looking at the links you provided, the coloring on the agreeable moth doesn't look as much like what the caterpillar in question looked like in real life (sorry that my image wasn't better).

I've never seen a leopard moth before... how cool to find its larva!
Tiger moth caterpillar
by: Moni

Well, after continuing the search, I will stick with this probably being the Giant Leopard moth larva tho it could be the Agreeable Tiger Moth caterpillar which has more yellow colored stripes.
Please look at these sites and see what you think?
Giant Leopard caterpillar
http://bugguide.net/node/view/493/bgimage
Agreeable Tiger caterpillar http://bugguide.net/node/view/3409/bgimage
Thank you
by: Michele

Thank you for your quick response. Of course, I think the caterpillar is a thousand times more thankful than I am, since he is now back outside in his natural environment.
Giant Leopard moth caterpillar?
by: Moni

My quick response is that it looks like the larva or caterpillar of the Giant Leopard moth. The ones we have up north have red between the spines rather than orange, so I will need to do some further looking.
But I wanted to let you know it is OK to let it back outside. It will not hurt the dog...the dog will know to stay away from such a spiny thing. The spines do not sting.
Here in the Midwest our caterpillars are the stage that overwinters...I just saw one earlier this week when we had a short warm spell and it fell out of some straw I was putting on the strawberries.
Will check on the coloring and get back to you about the exact species.
Thanks for sharing such a neat critter!

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