Hickory Horned Devil

Last week, I went to take out the trash when I noticed a giant bug on the ground. When I say giant, I mean the size of my index finger. Of course, I had to take a closer look and upon inspection I realized that it was an 8 inch long caterpillar that was the size and width of my index finger. Not only was it extremely long and wide, it had giant horns sprouting from its head and black spikes along its body.

After taking several pictures on my camera and phone, I headed inside to look up this strange caterpillar. After several failed search attempts, I was beginning to think that I had stumbled upon a new species or even worse, an alien. I was starting to get a little freaked out, beginning to think that this bug could crawl into someone's ear and use mind control.

However, it wasn't until my last search attempt that I finally found out what it was called, a Hickory Horned Devi. As these caterpillars age, they molt five times, with the final stage the caterpillar becoming the green colored and can grow in size of up to 15 cm.

The caterpillar only has horns to look threatening, but it's actually not harmful to humans. I'm sure if you tried to grab it you may get a little prick from the spikes on its back, but it won't actually try to eat you. Apparently, the caterpillar forms into a "J" shape during the day to camouflage itself as a pile of bird shit.

I thought my caterpillar was huge, but they can grow up to 15 cm. When I was searching for my caterpillar, I came across this photo of a much larger hickory horned devil.

One of the many variations of moths created by the hickory horned devil. The species on the left is called a Regal Moth.