🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨

Although it has a ferocious appearance, the hickory horned devil is harmless. This worm starts as a tiny caterpillar after hatching from one of hundreds of eggs laid by a regal moth. Over a matter of weeks, it grows and molts until it reaches its amazing mature size (almost 6 inches!). The fully-grown hickory horned devil has a brown head, dark green body, black prolegs and numerous spines. Each body segment has four or more short, black spines around in a row around it. The two body segments toward the front have four long projections each that are brown at the base, black at the tip and curve back. These are the "horns" that give the caterpillar its ferocious appearance and name. The "horns" are sometimes 3/4 inch long. Mature hickory horned devils crawl to the soil and dig in to form a subterranean cell in which they molt into a pupal stage. The shiny, dark-brown pupa is about two inches long (or even longer) and is somewhat cylindrical. The fall, winter and spring is spent as a pupa in the soil. Next summer, the insect molts into the regal moth. Regal moths are large and have stout bodies. Females (wingspan up to 6 inches) are larger than males. The head and body are orange-red and yellow spots and markings.

One reason that hickory horned devils are such a surprise is that they are actually kind of rare. In spite of their large and forbidding appearance, birds are apparently fond of them for food. Not only that, but parasites and diseases also kill a portion of the population. Consequently, very few of the hundreds of eggs laid by regal moths successfully develop and produce offspring of their own.