# "hairiest caterpillar"



## infinity (Jul 26, 2006)

I was browsing one of my regular sites a few moments ago and I came across this:

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=18729

titles "the hairiest caterpillar" - now I'm pretty sure it's not a caterpillar as they don't have legs - they have 6 tiny versions at the front and prolegs - I've never seen this thing before so does anyone know what it could be?


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## Rick (Jul 26, 2006)

Caterpillars have legs.


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## julian camilo (Jul 26, 2006)

the way it moves and looks to a certain extent suggests it is a caterpillar. but i dont know much about them at all, other than that they can be very varied and... outlandish. i remember seeing something similar on my way home from school when i was very young (and this is london) and being so scared, it looked unlike anything i had ever seen (or seen since, in real life). i thought it was an alien of some sort, i was very young.

regardless, thats absolutely amazing.

EDIT: at the end, someone says "dont touch it". QFT.


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## infinity (Jul 26, 2006)

by legs I guess i'm talking about the segmented sort... they have 3 pairs of normal legs, 5 pairs of pros and 1 anal proleg... but this looks like it has more sophisticated legs - possibly pro all the way along...

so anyone have any idea?


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## Johnald Chaffinch (Jul 26, 2006)

perhaps on the underside it has it's real legs and the protrusions on the side just move cos of the movement of the body, if you look at the ones on it's top they move like legs too.

it looks ace!

how many legs a caterpillar has - http://www.usyd.edu.au/macleay/larvae/faqs/legs.html

another crazy one - http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_i...543&amp;size=lg


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## Christian (Jul 26, 2006)

Hi.

The first one is a caterpillar of the neotropical moth family Megalopygidae. The voice is right: inside the frothy hairs there are poisonous spines which cause rather longlasting effects...

The second one should be the caterpillar of _Stauropus fagi_, an European Notodontidae species.

Regards,

Christian


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## Johnald Chaffinch (Jul 26, 2006)

the moths legs are just as hairy


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## julian camilo (Jul 27, 2006)

they look fantastic. unsettling, but very impressive nonetheless.


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## Johnald Chaffinch (Aug 2, 2006)

there's a vid of another weird one here :


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## Ian (Aug 2, 2006)

Pretty fantastic pillar I must say! "i-am-bored.com" Sounds about right Jon


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## strummer (Aug 3, 2006)

Love the first one looks Like the dog from the magic roundabout


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