[LEPS-L:7966] Re: Something else occured to me.

[DR. JAMES ADAMS]

Listers,

 I think it was a tributary of
> the Amazon, but I can't remember for sure.
>    Anyway, two of his men got stung by something fierce. They were
>    virtually
> incapacitated by it. If I remember right, they never figured out what
> had stung them. That's exactly what happens with most asp stings
> because it takes a few moments for it to start stinging. Chances are
> if you are walking you will never see what stung  you.

Although the megalopygid larvae are a possibility, it is more likely 
that the larvae involved (if it was larvae) were of a hemileucine 
saturniid (the Io moth and Buck Moths are in this group).  There are 
a couple of genera in the hemileucines in the American tropics well 
known for their obnoxious larvae.  These include (but are not limited 
to) Lonomia and Hylesia.  Encounters with these larvae, which 
often feed gregariously so encounters can result in multiple stings, 
are frequent enough each year to make the headlines.  A few 
deaths are attributable to these larvae on a yearly basis (for 
individuals particularly sensitive to the irritants), and usually result 
at least in necrosis of some skin.

	James

Dr. James K. Adams
Dept. of Natural Science and Math
Dalton State College
213 N. College Drive
Dalton, GA  30720
Phone: (706)272-4427; fax: (706)272-2533
U of Michigan's President James Angell's 
  Secret of Success: "Grow antennae, not horns"

 
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