Monday, September 03, 2012

A Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar for Mellow Yellow Monday

 This fuzzy yellow caterpillar with black spikey hairs is a Banded Tussock caterpillar found on an arm of a lawn chair on my back deck.
This is the second Tussock caterpillar I have seen within a week. The white caterpillar shown above is a Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar.  You can notice a similarity between these two caterpillars as they both have black upright spikey hairs. I have read that this white caterpillar can be quite toxic and you should not touch it or pick it up. Some people have experience quite a severe allargic reaction from handling these caterpillars. I never touch a caterpillar but if for some reason I want to pick one up I always use a leaf or a small stick or twig for the caterpillar to rest upon.  Better safe than sorry so it is a good rule to be wary when encountering some of nature's unknown creastures.
Got pictures with yellow that you would like to share? Why not post them on Mellow Yellow Monday, a delightful meme that focuses on the colour yellow?Just clink here:http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/ to access this meme

5 comments:

lorik said...

Interesting shots of these curious creatures!

Bhavesh Chhatbar said...

Yuck but beautiful :)

Unknown said...

i'd love to take photos of these creatures!

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

I'm not sure which ones every cause a reaction, so I leave them all alone and just admire them as you have!

Chubskulit Rose said...

Not fond of those but great shots.

My YELLOW post.
Have a great week ahead!