Page 378 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Saturniidae
DISTRIBUTION Guiano-Amazonian Basin east of the Andes, from Venezuela
south to Bolivia
HABITAT Tropical forests
HOST PLANTS Unknown; in captivity has fed on Black Locust
(Robinia pseudoacacia)
NOTE Giant silkmoth caterpillar that is protected by poisonous,
stinging spines
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated

ADULT WINGSPAN
2¾–4⅞ in (70–126 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
3½ in (90 mm)
AUTOMERIS CURVILINEA
AUTOMERIS CURVILINEA
376
SCHAUS, 1906

The beauty of the Automeris curvilinea silkmoth caterpillar
belies the painful reality of its many poisonous stinging spines.
As the caterpillars feed close together, their spines are useful
for shielding themselves and their siblings from vertebrate
predators. When approached by parasitic flies or wasps,
the caterpillars swing their heads back and forth to prevent the
parasitoids from depositing eggs on them. Fortunately, they
usually avoid contact with humans, as most Automeris species
stay in the forest canopy. The mature caterpillars spin imsy

The Automeris curvilinea caterpillar is bright cocoons wrapped in leaves.
green with ve bright yellow, broad dashes on
each side. Long spines on its dorsum bristle with
slender green and yellow, blue-tipped spines. The Automeris curvilinea caterpillar is one of more than 125
Rosettes of shorter slender spines radiate from
each side. The head is blue, and the feet are red colorful Automeris species, sometimes called “bull’s eye moths”
with black tips and covered with white bristles. for the prominent false eyes on the hindwings. They belong
to a huge subfamily of silkmoths called Hemileucinae found
only in the Americas, from Canada to Tierra del Fuego and the
Caribbean. All caterpillars in this subfamily are stinging, and
those of one genus, Lonomia, regularly cause human fatalities.

Actual size