Thaumetopoea pityocampa
Identification suggestions (from the community or from AI) and the information here may be wrong; this app never confirms that anything is safe to eat. Do not consume wild plants, mushrooms or seafood without expert confirmation. Nothing here is medical advice.
The caterpillar's microscopic barbed hairs cause severe itching, rash and blisters on contact; in the eyes they cause inflammation and if inhaled, asthma-like breathing trouble or anaphylaxis. Never touch the nest or the procession and never poke it with a stick — the hairs drift on the wind, so even sitting under the tree is enough. Dogs that lick a caterpillar can lose part of the tongue.
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White cottony silk tent at the tips of pine branches
Caterpillars march in a single head-to-tail file
Grey-brown caterpillar with orange-red tufts of hair along the back
