I saw and sawed 3 in the last 2 days. Saw with eyes. Sawed with garden knife. They are never welcome here, unlike lots of wasps that make nests and hunt worms, etc.

They fall out of the sycamores on my property. They seem to be much more prevalent is year. I've learned to use duct tape to remove all the spines first (instead of scrubbing with soap first) and then a pretty strong salt solution soak of the afflicted area followed by ice. All that after canceling all obligations for the following 6 hours. I couldn't believe how painful their venom is. My first sting was on a finger and the pain spread to my arm pit within an hour and I suffered a localized fever, swelling and weakness. I ended up taking 2 Benadryl so I could fall asleep and get away from reality for a bit.

I hate those things! We used to have chinaberry fights as kids and you would grab a handful of berries and get stung every time I can`t even count how many times I have been stung and it always hurts like the dickens. The only thing to do is take drugs and sleep, when you wake up it doesn`t hurt any more.

What in the world is that??? Do you think it's an asp or some other kind of caterpillar? Anybody know?

That's not an asp. Maybe an Io moth caterpillar?

Texaskitty, thank you for the suggestion. I just did a search and see that there are other moth caterpillars in Texas that have stinging barbs including the Io moth, but the effect is not nearly as severe as the asp.