ellebee said:

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The big ones with the orange stripes? Those are harmless. We used to play with those.

https://hubpages.com/education/black-fuzzy-caterpillar

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No, these are all black

I've read stories where people pass out or vomit from the pain of the asp. Supposedly the pain can last up to 24 hrs. It's a phobia of mine to come in contact with one

Found about a dozen more crawling out of a bush on the side of the house. Saw some type of big web in the middle of the bush so I'm guessing that's where they came from. Sprayed it down real good and got the stragglers. Or so I thought.
Brother in law was under my grandsons Explorer replacing a water pump and one nailed him on the side of his head. He wasn't a happy person. Wife was wearing flips and brushed against a dead one. Even dead their dangerous. Diluted bleach does work.

Was eating at a taco joint in Channelview and had an asp drop from an oak tree onto our table. About 5 minutes later another asp dropped, but landed on my coworkers shoulder this time.

We looked up to see dozens more on the tree and relocated to another table.

I touched an asp last year, just to see how bad it was. Pretty painful and lasted longer than I thought.

Don't think this is one but hadn't seen a caterpillar like this before. His antennae were huge and he was moving rapidly.

I started drinking shortly after.

Seriously didn't think it would be worse than a bee. I barelyyyyy grazed it with my finger - I'm smart that way - and it was certainly worse than a bee.

My daughter still tells that story, with what I think is pride...but it may just be dumbfounded disbelief.

I was going to do that too with a dead one at work. By the time I got back down to test it out, it was gone.

The Op's photo makes it look like the thing is the size of a mouse or rat. How big are these things? We have all sorts of caterpillars at our place but I've nevet seen these. Spreadsheet titled "avoid at all costs" had been updated. Thanks fellas.

I was cleaning up storm debris from a downed oak tree and had one drop onto my neck. I stupidly removed my leather work gloves to fish it out of my collar, thereby getting stung (or whatever it officially is when the little microscopic barbs nail you) on my neck and hands. Yes it hurt like hell, but the weird headache, dizziness, and numb face, lips, etc. freaked me out more than the pain.

dr_boogs said:

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The Op's photo makes it look like the thing is the size of a mouse or rat. How big are these things? We have all sorts of caterpillars at our place but I've nevet seen these. Spreadsheet titled "avoid at all costs" had been updated. Thanks fellas.

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Probably average about three inches. The pale colored ones seemed a little smaller.

blob:https://texags.com/311968eb-c7c3-4bb7-8440-be09830eacec

Not sure if this is an asp, but it's certainly the biggest caterpillar I've seen. It was knocked out a tree during a storm.

Edit: I'm ******ed and don't know how to post pictures, but take my word for it, it was one big stinkin caterpillar.

What about this guy? Found him curled up in some debris I was cleaning up. He stayed curled on the slab about 10 min then hightailed it to the woods. I let him go.

It is a leopard moth caterpillar. You can pick them up they have a very mildly irritating venom if you squeeze too hard it might make you itch. I used to catch them all the time when I was a kid. They are not in any way painful.

Apache said:

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The go-to person for entomological pain is Dr. Justin Schmidt, best known as the author of the Schmidt Pain Index; a ranking system calculated from the agony caused by a wide variety of wasps and bees stinging him during his research. While Schmidt hasn't systematically studied caterpillars, he did say the pain of a caterpillar sting lasted longer than the pain of most wasp or bee stings.

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Answered by own question... Schmidt hasn't done a study on them.

Wired article on stinging caterpillars

I am now irritated that the asp isn't ranked. It has to be up there with the Bullet Ant and Tarantula Hawk as a 4 on the pain scale.

Per Wikipedia, Pain level 3:

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Most insects that are characterized as having a pain level of 3 are wasps, including the red paper wasp, the metricus paper wasp, and the velvet ant (which is actually a wasp, not an ant).

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I've been hit by red wasps & while painful, they don't sound near as bad as an asp. I'm sure some of y'all have been hit by a velvet ant (cow killer) and an asp. How did they compare? I may make it my personal mission to get the asp measured by the doctor so the little b*&tard can get the bad recognition it deserves.

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I know this is an old post, but I just saw it. The asp isn't ranked by Schmidt because he was specifically ranking hymenopterans (ants/wasps/bees). He didn't use any arachnids or other insect types in his rankings.

I got hit by an asp last year. Fell onto my back out of a live oak and stung me through a dry fit shirt. Hurt like hell. Carried a scar for years from a pretty hard full-body asp sting to the inside of my arm at the elbow crease as a child. Worst pain I had been in to that point as far as I can remember.

Aggie Infantry said:

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So I have been bit/stung by
Honey bees many times- (a 2.0 from another article)
Fire Ant (100+) all at once, the *******s! - 1.2 That's when fishing becomes swimming.
Yellow Jackets many times - 2.0
Paper Wasp (Red Wasps) many times - 3.0
Where the hell is a Bumble Bee? - I thought I was shot when one got me.
Never got stung by a Cow Killer Ant but saw a bunch as a kid. Even colorblind I could see those suckers.
Anyone have empirical data where the Asp would land on this?

If you get stung, fill a bath with cold water and add a cup of bleach.

Our son got multiple stings as a toddler and one of our neighbors was a MD and told us what to do. Within about 15 minutes the welts had all gone down and he was no longer crying.

This works for ant bites as well.

Insect pain index article

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Schmidt is rather colorful and thorough in his sting descriptions, too. He described the 1-point pain of the mud dauber as "sharp with a flare of heat; jalapeno cheese when you were expecting Havarti." The Matabele ant has a sting at the 1.5-point level, comparable to a "child's arrow [that] misses its target and finds its home in your calf." [Image Gallery: Ants of the World]

A type of wasp called a velvet ant or cow killer produces pain that is at the 3-point level, "explosive and long lasting, [in which] you sound insane as you scream." And should you encounter the sting of the warrior wasp, at the 4-point level, that's simply "torture; you are chained in the flow of an active volcano [asking] why did I start this list?"

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The Giant Japanese Hornet surpassed the Bullet Ant as per Coyote Peterson. But the Executioner Wasp beat the Giant Japanese Hornet. His stings are on YouTube.

LoudestWHOOP! said:

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Insect pain index article

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Schmidt is rather colorful and thorough in his sting descriptions, too. He described the 1-point pain of the mud dauber as "sharp with a flare of heat; jalapeno cheese when you were expecting Havarti." The Matabele ant has a sting at the 1.5-point level, comparable to a "child's arrow [that] misses its target and finds its home in your calf." [Image Gallery: Ants of the World]

A type of wasp called a velvet ant or cow killer produces pain that is at the 3-point level, "explosive and long lasting, [in which] you sound insane as you scream." And should you encounter the sting of the warrior wasp, at the 4-point level, that's simply "torture; you are chained in the flow of an active volcano [asking] why did I start this list?"

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I dont get why red wasp at 5-10 is in red but yellow jacket at 10 is in orange

Color indicates how painful it is, not the number of minutes that it hurts.

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The asp isn't ranked by Schmidt because he was specifically ranking hymenopterans (ants/wasps/bees).

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Makes sense.... hadn't seen that anywhere

GE said:

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I got hit by an asp last year. Fell onto my back out of a live oak and stung me through a dry fit shirt. Hurt like hell. Carried a scar for years from a pretty hard full-body asp sting to the inside of my arm at the elbow crease as a child. Worst pain I had been in to that point as far as I can remember.

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I've been popped several times over the past few years, most recently on my face, by one of these suckers:

(Green Lacewing larvae)
The initial sting is comparable to a fire ant, but the burning/itching lasts days if not weeks, and results in a scar.

So is this guy harmful? Sun made the lighting a little off....