Help I.D. a cattarpillar for me.?

Question

I was outside today during my smoke break, and a coworker said calmly, you got a big thing crawling on you, i looked down, and there was this multi horned friggen cattarpillar on my sleeve!

It was black, with a red stripe running down the middle of its back, on either side of the red stripe was a silver or grey stripe (these ran parrallel to his body). And it had these giant horns or spikes (if I remember 1 on each side of its body, and there were like 10-12 sets of them in all). I was affraid it must have been poisonous because i let out a shriek, i sounded like a girl. I then took a pen and brushed him off, he fell to the ground and appeared to play dead. Anyone know what this could have been? I live in new mexico, but this could have been an exotic species. (I think he was deffinetely foreign to the pavement in the parking lot!)

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

Was it the "rose caterpillar"?

It would help if you provided your location.

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfact...

They do "sting". The bright coloration is a warning to all.

Added 4 days later:

Could it have been a pinevine swallowtail caterpillar?

http://www.carolinanature.com/butterflie...

Answer 2

Perhaps one of these.

Arge moth caterpillar

http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?search=...

Whitelined sphinx

http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=C...

If it is not one of these spend some time at that site, you might just find it.