IO Moth (Automeris Io)

I had no idea what this was when I was taking some close ups of it, but now I've learned it will become a silk moth (IO Moth), well before becoming a moth.. now it's a stinging caterpillar about 3" long with the pink and white horizontal stripe down it's side.

It is very neat and close up looks like row after row of prickly branches, as seen in the below photos. You can see the black on the tips and I was told that the sting is very effective - which I took his word for.

This was the first time I've seen one of these and the first time I was able to photography one as it crawled around in the afternoon sun.