A woman was baffled after finding a bizarre caterpillar with horns in her garden in Thailand.

Patcharee Pompipat was tending to her ornamental plants in Khon Kaen province when she met the little green creature on December 16.

The insect crawling among the leaves had a large head with four fuzzy horns and a slug-shaped body with white stripes.

The confused woman took some of the caterpillars in her house and perched them on a leaf to feed.

She took pictures and videos of the creature and showed it to her friends so they could help identify it.

As it turns out, the caterpillar is a Polyura delphis, whose butterfly lays eggs on various trees and shrubs.

She said: "At first, I was confused about what it was until I showed it to my friends. When they told me it was a caterpillar from a beautiful butterfly I always wanted to see, I was happy."

Polyura delphis, or commonly called the Jewelled Nawab, is a butterfly found in India and Southeast Asia.

Its butterfly has multiple red spots bordered by yellow bands on a metallic white background.