unknown caterpillar

[Kathleen Moon]

> Lep folks,
>
> Last fall, a friend in New Mexico saw a caterpillar that looks a lot
> like a woolly bear and he sent sent me a drawing of it.  He described
> it as "about the size of a woolly worm, and woolly, and they have a
> wide band in the middle, but it's yellow rather than orange.  The
> rest of the fur is black, but with lots of white whiskery bristles
> poking out."  His drawing is at:
> http://academics.hamilton.edu/biology/ewilliam/nicholscaterpillar.html
>
> If you know what it is, please let me know.  Many thanks.
 
It indeed looks like a woolly bear (at least a couple tiger moth larvae
bear this as a common name).  In drawing (as opposed to photographing)
many of the details are lost, but even then, it looks very much like a
tiger moth larva.  There are some that look like that in southern
California.  Unfotunately, I don't recall the nomenclature.
 
 
 
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