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Automeris pictus

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Saturniidae

'The Saturniidae are members of the Superfamily Bombycoidea . These species are medium to very large in size, and this family includes the largest moths in North America. Adults have a wingspan of 3 to 15 centimeters, relatively small heads , and densely hairy bodies. Larvae are usually very fleshy , with clumps of raised bristles . Buck moth and Io moth caterpillars have sharp, stinging hairs . Caterpillars mostly feed on leaves of trees and shrubs ; some cause severe damage. Pupa develop in silken cocoons or in the soil. This family does not contain the commercial silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), which is not native to North America.

'[1]

Subfamily Hemileucinae

The buck and io moths are members of the Family Saturniidae. Adults of these species have wingspans of 4.5 to 8 cm, hairy bodies, and relatively small heads . Caterpillars have sharp, stinging hairs , and feed on leaves of trees and shrubs . Some buck and io moths pupate in a well-built silken cocoon .[2]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Automeris

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 7 species and subspecies in this genus:

A. cecrops (Cecrops Eyed Silkmoth) · A. io (Io Moth) · A. iris (Iris Eyed Silkmoth) · A. louisiana (Louisiana Eyed Silkmoth) · A. patagoniensis (Patagonia Eyed Silkmoth) · A. randa (Randa's Eyed Silkmoth) · A. zephyria (Zephyr Eyed Silkmoth)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=29&sci=Saturniidae&com=Wild Silk Moths [back]
  2. http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Coloradia&search=Search [back]
Last Revised: 7/23/2012