Maine's Doing Winter in Spring, Why Not Caterpillars in the Snow?

There's a lot of gross things in Maine.

We're lucky in a lot of ways. We don't have poisonous snakes or critters. Well, that's not even true anymore since we found out Maine now has a species of Black Widow spider. So I guess we can't really say that anymore. But there are plenty of oogie things to still make you uncomfortable.

We've got Browntail Moth Caterpillars and Puss Caterpillars. The latter of which, is absolutely freaky, if not otherworldly. There's even a species of beetle, that people compare the sting to a gunshot wound. But not everything is designed to hurt you. Some little bitties are just gross to look at and maybe make you just a bit scared.

Have you ever seen caterpillars in the snow?

We told you about how spiders come out on the ice occasionally, when their bodies thaw out from the cold. There's probably not much more disconcerting than a spider crawling at you across a barren, frozen lake. And while it may not be quite as scary, wouldn't it be freaky to see a caterpillar walking in the snow?

Fresh snow with a sprinkle of caterpillars?!?!
byu/VegUltraGirl inMaine

Just check out the critter in that photo from Reddit! It ain't right! The law of the universe is, summer gross things are for summer. Winter gross things are supposed to be in winter. This somehow violates both those rules. Granted, I made those rules up, but I'm just trying to think of the world at large.

So what is that thing?

These are the larvae of the Yellow Underwing Moth, also known as winter cutworm. When the weather is exceedingly mild for a stretch, these cutworms start to move about. what's even a bit more frightening, is that they often travel in large numbers. So sometimes when you see one, you may end up seeing tons.

That won't make them any scarier at all, right? The only beings that would be at all excited to see the cutworms are birds, who will ravenously feed upon them when they do come out. They don't bite or anything, so you have nothing to fear. Other than the knowledge that you share your yard with these scary moth tubes. Yuck.

These things, on the other hand, will bite the crap out of you. Enjoy!

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Gallery Credit: Fred Miller

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