If a hedgehog were made of gummy candy, it would look like this. But this a real caterpillar. Janice Ang of Singapore found and recorded this caterpillar on a Macarthur Palm tree and posted it to the Facebook group Mothing and Moth-watching. The species is Olona, of the Limacodidae family. It will growing a nondescript moth that looks nothing like the caterpillar.
Limacodidae caterpillar is like a walking gummy bear
— IMHIM (@ziyatong) November 1, 2017
[video: Janice Ang] pic.twitter.com/fr13tvjMaM
Mothership has more on the taxonomy of such moths.
Limacodid larvae are often highly ornamented and brightly coloured.
Two main types can be distinguished: Larvae armed with rows of protuberances bearing stinging spines called “stinging nettle” caterpillars, or non-spined forms where the surface of the larvae may by completely smooth, called “gelatin” caterpillars.
This one hit the jackpot as both spiky and gelatinous. Which honestly sounds like words you'd use to describe an alien species in a science fiction movie. -via @ziyatong