My husband recently encountered a Hickory Tussock Caterpillar and I'm not sure, but I think this is the moth it turns into. I looked up the Hickory Tussock and it seems to resemble the picture I saw, but I really couldn't tell. Why is its tail swirled up like that?
The colors are similar, but they're not related - yours is a Walnut Sphinx Moth, Amorpha juglandis. I don't know why their abdomen curls up like that, though.
Here's a link to its bugfiles page with a couple pics of the caterpillars:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/1438/
Thank you claypa! What an amazing specimen. Kind of scary looking, but still pretty.
