JT Crawford
Hemileuca maia
I saw this Buck Moth larvae; Hemileuca maia, in its foraging and growth stage at Carolina Beach State Park on May 19th. Buck moths cover a range spanning the entire eastern US. This species is easy to identify because of its red head and the abundance of black spines covering its body. These venomous spines act as both a constitutive defense and a chemical defense for the larvae while in this stage in its life. Contact with the spines should be avoided and is known to cause redness and swelling in humans for several days.
Source: (Barrier Island Ecology UNCW, 2015)
sites.google.com/site/barrierislandecology2013/impacts-of...
Hemileuca maia
I saw this Buck Moth larvae; Hemileuca maia, in its foraging and growth stage at Carolina Beach State Park on May 19th. Buck moths cover a range spanning the entire eastern US. This species is easy to identify because of its red head and the abundance of black spines covering its body. These venomous spines act as both a constitutive defense and a chemical defense for the larvae while in this stage in its life. Contact with the spines should be avoided and is known to cause redness and swelling in humans for several days.
Source: (Barrier Island Ecology UNCW, 2015)
sites.google.com/site/barrierislandecology2013/impacts-of...