slug?
My daughter found this creature crawling on a rotting stick in the woods in Southwest Missouri. We initially thought it was a caterpillar, but see that it moves like a slug or snail. It also appears to have antennae at the front like a slug, but similar protrusions all along its body. Are the white things on its back eggs, or perhaps parasites? It is approximately 3/4 inch long.
This is one of the Slug Caterpillars in the family Limacodidae. We believe it is a Spiny Oak Slug, Euclea delphinii. The “eggs” are really Brachonid Pupa, a parasite that feeds on the caterpillar’s inner tissues.