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Project Noah Nature School
Automeris excreta
Big male specimen of Automeris excreta with a 10 cm wingspan. The "eyes" of this species are especially bright and colorful.
Came to an ultraviolet light in the garden, San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.
This species has a similar life cycle and larval pictures as for Automeris io: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automeris_i.... The other two species of Io Moth-like species from San Cristobal are Automeris zozine and Leucanella contempta windi. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/222... http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/227...
Spotted on Apr 12, 2013
Submitted on Apr 13, 2013
12 Comments
Thank you Bill :)
I will get pictures of the underside of the wings for you.
I am pretty sure that A. oaxacensis is more of a lower elevation Pacific Coast species with significantly smaller hindwing ocelli. It is not yet known from such high altitude. Closely related species with larger hindwing ocelli
are A. excreta and A. tridens. Tridens is also generally regarded as a lower elevation species while excreta is a montane species. Given your elevation at 2200m, I would go with Automeris excreta, but it might even be something undescribed. It might also be Automeris rubrescens which was recently removed from synonymity with tridens, but seems restricted to Pacific side. I still favour excreta, however, due mostly to the elevation. If you get an view of the underside of the hindwings there is at least one character there that can be used to distinguish oaxacensis from tridens and possibly from excreta.
Bill Oehlke
Thank you bayucca. Fixed.
Thank you Karen for the honor. Hope lots of people know what it is!
Congrats Lauren, your first photo was the star of our Facebook quiz https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...
Thank you Dan :)
Cool shots Lauren!
Thank you Jakubko. :)
I love the detail!
Thank you Bernadette and injica! :)
Cute, funny looking this "eyes" on its wings :)
Nice series!