Subject: Spiky Caterpillar
Geographic location of the bug: North Vietnam
Date: 09/26/2017
Time: 08:41 AM EDT
Today, we found this caterpillar. Rather, it found us. It stung of us in the head, and hurt like hell. The locals assured us, that it wasn’t dangerous, just unpleasant. What can you tell us about that nasty fellow?
How you want your letter signed: The three adventurers
Dear The three adventurers,
This is a gorgeous image of a Stinging Slug Caterpillar in the family Limacodidae. We will attempt a species identification. In the meantime, here is an image from Creative Photography that was also taken in Vietnam, but which is most likely a different species.
I too was stung by a small 2 cm long green caterpillar, but I am on the island of Phu Quoc in south Vietnam. It looks somewhat like the slug caterpillar you have pictured, but it is green and white. There is no yellow/orange like the one you have on your site.. They seem to fall out of the trees onto tourists suntanning around the pool. I didn’t photograph it, because I was too busy grinding it into a paste. Still stings some 3 hours later. Is it a variation of the slug, or is it something new.
Difficult to be certain without an image, but there are many species of Stinging Slug Caterpillars.
My 12 year-old Chihuahua trod on one of these and screamed his head off – however it appears nothing serious, just an acute reaction. This happened in our garden in Da Nang, Central Viet Nam.