It’s been cold in North Carolina recently.  REALLY cold as far as this Arizona gal is concerned!  It somehow seems appropriate that one of the most recent insects sightings I’ve made was already wearing a downy coat:

American dagger moth caterpillar

That’s Acronicta americana, the American dagger moth.  Pretty cute little guy, but if you follow Brigette Zacharczenko’s fabulous Caterpillar Blog, you’ve learned that many of the Acronicta species have tiny stinging hairs hidden down in that fluff.  I tend to assume the worst and leave all fuzzy caterpillars alone, so I just watched this little guy inch its way down the tree and marveled at how fuzzy it was.

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