Son of Mothra Awakes from Its Radioactive Slumber

Adam is gobsmacked:

Leaving work today, I noticed this little fella .... and by little I mean huge. (Sorry about the poor photo quality - camera phone)

He's a caterpillar about 10-12cms (4-5 inches) long covered in lots of spines and hairs. I know that some of these beasties can be dangerous (think Spitfires), so I resisted the temptation to stick my hand next to it for size comparison ... unlike this gentleman who took a photo of a very similar looking caterpillar in his garden, also in Canberra, the same time last year.

Photo from http://the-riotact.com/what-be-this-dragon/35131

My initial thought is that it's obviously the son of Mothra, awakening from his radioactive slumber. Mothra. You know .... Mothra - enemy of Godzilla. Looks like this:

Well, it was an easy mistake to make. Turns out though it wasn't the offspring of one of Godzilla's fiercest opponents, but simply a White-Stemmed Gum Moth. These moths have a wing span of up to 16cms (half a foot for the non-metric), and yes, the hairs/spines all over the caterpillar stage are designed to break off into the flesh of any attacking predator and are known to be quite painful.

Jayde has a fascination for caterpillars, and I rushed home to tell her about the uber-caterpillar I'd found. I did advise her however that unlike those she finds in our garden, this one wasn't going to be picked up and put into her caterpillar house.