My niece and nephew have spent most of their young lives in the Arizona desert. So it is their sage opinion that "if it doesn't poke you, sting you, prick you or bite you -- it's not native to Arizona."
Well I found out the hard way that the Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer (Once again, I'm not making this up!) is a native. I found out while I was trimming dead stuff off my brother's grape arbour.
The Ag folks at Colorado State say the critters are showing up there now, so they've put together a good primer on the WGS. Whe CSU also says, but I learned first hand is:
Many people are sensitive to contact with WGS larvae. The long, dark hairs on the bodies are poisonous when broken. Skin welts similar to thouse produced by stinging nettles appear on sensitive individuals after contact the late instar larvae.
Boy howdy have they got that right! I won't show you what the back of my hand looks like, but trust me -- it ain't pretty!
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