[LEPS-L:7943] Re: ASPS (the name of a stinging caterpillar in Texas)

[jandwdic at postoffice.swbell.net]

   Bless you. I have been looking up "asp" in books ever since I was a kid.
But all I ever found was the reference to various serpents. I knew that it
must be a fairly uncommon species; but to Texas natives (before asps went
into decline in the big cities) they were renouned, and feared.
   If you can give me any info, or a source for pictures, please let me know.

   As much as I hated the little buggers when I was a kid, I must admit that
I have gotten lots of enjoyment out of describing them to strangers. Most of
them had never heard of such a thing.
   I had one friend who moved here in 1970 who was riding his motorcycle one
day and got stung by something that came on very slowly. When I described
asps to him, he was convinced that that was what it must have been. That is
the last known incedent of an asp bite in Dallas that I have ever heard.
   Although it's good to be rid of them, I feel a little nostalgia for them
now that they are part of the past and a snapshot of the glorious summers I
had as a kid.
   Gone also at about the same time, was the "Horney Toad".That's what we
called them anyway. They are acctually horned lizards. But they, along with
many frogs, disappeared in the late 60's. I guess they were all  perifferal
species who had a precarious hold on their environment.
   I can't lament the loss of the Horney Toad without thinking of the Asp,
because they were both of the same era. I guess there must be something in
the city that ruined their environment. Maybe they only exist in rural areas
now. God help them; (the rural folk that is). But I would at least like to
see one once again, since they are something like a unicorn in these parts.
They are a mythical beast from bygone days. I imagine the Spaniards must have
discovered them when they came this way. But if they encountered them, it's
possible that they never figured out what the hell was stinging them so
badly. If you were just passing through, it may have been a mystery. But it
was no mystery to us natives. That is one fearsome creature.
   I would love to see a picture of the moth, to see if I remember seeing it
too.






































SFleischak at aol.com wrote:

> I believe you are talking about the puss moth caterpillar, Megalopyge
> opercularis. They are still around in sufficient numbers to cause a great
> deal of pain.
>
> Steve Fleischaker
> Central Florida
>
>
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