Dangerous saddleback caterpillar found in Belgium

A poisonous caterpillar native to the south-eastern United States has been found on a house plant bought by a woman from Kortenaken, Flemish Brabant. The green-and-brown coloured caterpillar is the saddleback (Acharia stimulea), the larva of an innocuous brown moth.

The caterpillar was found in a plant bought at the Midi Market in Brussels two months ago but discovered only last week. The effects of coming in contact with the creature’s hairs is similar to that of the processionary species of caterpillars that plague parts of Belgium annually: a painful, swollen skin irritation, with the addition in this case of nausea, dizziness and possible respiratory difficulties.

“I immediately told the children to stay away from it,” the woman told Het Belang van Limburg. “I was particularly afraid of those hairs.

Hendrik Moermans, spokesperson for nature conservancy organisation Natuurpunt said that they believe it is “the first time this dangerous caterpillar has been spotted in Belgium. “It has, however, shown up several times in the Netherlands. Each time it arrived in the country on an exotic plant.”

The likelihood now is, Natuurpunt said, that other plants from the same seller may have been infested with caterpillar eggs, so that the creature may now make another appearance.