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Sep 3, 2008 6:53 pm US/Eastern

Evidence Of Stinging Caterpillar In Maryland

  More Pictures Of Stinging Caterpillars

Reporting
Richard Sher
ELKTON, Md. (WJZ/AP) ―

A species of stinging caterpillar more common in southern climates appears to have arrived on the Eastern Shore.

Richard Sher has more.

Francis Breeding, a pest management consultant with the Queen Anne's County Extension Office, says a woman needed medical treatment last week because venom from a puss caterpillar traveled up her arm to her lymph nodes.

Tally Fulghum was visiting her in-laws on Kent Island when she stuck her arm in a crepe myrtle tree and was stung.

"Within 30 minutes, Tally was sitting on our floor, dazed, with pain running all the way up her left arm," Bob Fulghum said. "Tally was still in pain four days later."

Breeding says puss caterpillars don't bite, but their hair contains the venom. Extension specialists say some people are more sensitive to the caterpillars than others, but children should be told not to touch them.

Cecil County Extension master gardener Eileen Boyle says the caterpillars may have arrived in Cecil County, too.

There are 50 types of stinging caterpillars.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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