These are beautiful bright green caterpillars with clusters of venomous spines down the body that look soft but sharp. The bright red and white line gives a hint of a warning color to this lime green beauty.

Here is the hiccup, the early stages of the io moth caterpillars are more of a brown in their first three instars(molts and become more yellow in their 4th and turn vibrant green in their 5th!

Host plants- grasses, herbaceous plants, shrubs, deciduous trees, and conifers.

How about these eggs? Do you feel like you are being watched? This egg cluster almost looks like a cluster of eyes staring back! These eggs were found on the back of a Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

The adults are called the Io moth, and this is where the name starts to make sense! They have eye-shaped markings on their hindwing that is visible when the wings are expanded. In this picture you can't see the eye shapes while the moth has its wings folded.

Sting treatments that can help include removing broken spine from the skin with tape, ice packs, antihistamine, and hydrocortisone cream to the affected area.