My sister found an echo moth* caterpillar while gardening. She doesn’t like to kill things without cause. She put it in a glass jar and asked me what she should do with it.
IMO, if it’s an invasive species or a pest, it should be killed. However, poking around on the 'net doesn’t answer that question. Can anyone help out a novice gardener?
*We are pretty sure it’s an echo moth caterpillar, but not %100 certain.
Thanks in advance!
Take it to your extension office.
Thanks, but sadly, not an option.
Paging Dr. Colibri! 
Sorry, I’d have to rely on what I found on the internet anyway.
Texas isn’t recorded in the Echo Moth’s range, so I dunno. Maybe it’s something else. In it’s native range in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi it doesn’t seem to be a pest.
What you found is all I could find. 
The Tx Ag Extension site (thanks PurpleClogs!) has a list of links to descriptions of many many many butterflies and moths, but I don’t have the time to review all of them to identify what she found and not all the pages have pix of that butterfly’s/moth’s caterpillar phase.
It shall be returned to the wild and I hope that’s the right thing to do.
Many thanks!
Even if it were invasive, one moth is unlikely to make a difference.