Saturday, August 25, 2012

Automeris Io Caterpillar

 This bright green caterpillar, that showed up on our driveway, is the automeris Io caterpillar.
 It was about 3" long, and the tufts are poisonous to the touch.

On the side are a darker green , a maroon and a white stripe.  The feet are brownish in colour.
The male adult moth is a buttery yellow  and the female is a rusty red, and they both have dark "eyes" on their hind wings.  The moths are about 2" across.  I have seen the adult moths other years but I haven't seen any this year.

2 comments:

  1. It resembles something you might find in the ocean. Beautiful.

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  2. This is amazing, because I was just looking at a photo of one of these in my bug book yesterday and wishing I could see one. What a wonderful little creature, and you got great photos!

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