Caterpillar ID?

Hello! My name is Erin and I'm in my sophomore year of college studying to be a wildlife biologist! Anyways, I found this caterpillar in my church in Novelty. I used the Seek app to try and identify it, which suggested it was an Edward's glassy-winged moth (Pseudohemihyalea edwardsii). However, there are no records of any of them living in the east or even the midwest. I thought it might have mistaken it for a giant leopard moth larvae, but it lacks the red bands and is very small. Is it possible that it could be p. edwardsii? Found on 11/16/23.

Thanks for forwarding your caterpillar picture. It is one of the tiger moth species. There are several species that occur in Geauga County. When I cropped your picture and entered it into the iNaturalist.org database, their top suggestion was tiger moth, as well. Caution should be taken, however, when using Seek or iNaturalist. Usually, the AI identification ability of those sites is very good, but sometimes they can lead a person astray, as in the case with this critter. I’m happy that you looked into this a little more and realized that Seek’s recommendation might be off. When using these apps, always err on the side of caution. I’ve learned that most of the time, the respective critter is something that is normally found in our area.

-Naturalist Linda Gilbert