DISTRIBUTION: Automerula auletes (wingspan: males: 55-69mm; females: 68-95mm) flies in tropical rain forests from Panamá: Chiriqui; Colon (AT); Colombia: Valle, Caqueta and probably Amazonas and Putamayo; Venezuela: Bolivar, Miranda, Aragua; Suriname; French Guiana: Saint-Jean-du-Maroni, Cayenne, Coralie, Saul; French Guiana: Nouragues: Heliport - Drop Zone, 4.088, -52.681, collected by MAS. Smith & R. Rougerie, 2011-01-29 (Mirror); Peru: Loreto, Madre de Dios, (Amazonas (TLR)); Pasco (KW); Ecuador: Pichincha: Quito, Sucumbios: Lumbaqui and Rio Agrio, Napo: Tena, and Morona Santiago: Macas and Limon; and in Bolivia: La Paz, Beni; and Brazil: Para; Brazil: Para: Pacaja: Pacaja-BPC112, -3.706, -51.039, collected by T. Decaens, 2008-06-01. Specimens by Thibaud Decaens and G. Lecourt are from Beni, Bolivia. Wing patterns and shapes vary from the different geographic locales.

Automerula auletes female, 85mm, Panama Canal Zone, Colon, Panama,
September 30, 1975, courtesy of Albert Thurman

Automerula auletes female (verso), 85mm, Panama Canal Zone, Colon, Panama,
September 30, 1975, courtesy of Albert Thurman

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Moths have been taken in December-January-February, May-August and in November, suggesting at least three broods annually.

Visit http://perso.wanadoo.fr/colombian.insects/ for a pricelist or send email: colombian_insects@yahoo.com

At high altitude in Brazil: Mato Grosso, there are two flights during the rainy season: January-April and September-December.

Automerina auletes female, December, Saint-Jean-du-Maroni (AG), French Guiana, wingspan: 90mm, courtesy of Antoine Guyonnet.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING: Females extend a scent gland from the tip of their abdomens to "call" the males. Males use their antennae to hone in on the airbourne pheromone. Automerula auletes female, French Guiana, courtesy of Carlot Didier.

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS AND PUPAE:

Brown eggs, which incubate for up to seventeeen days, yield completely yellow first instar larvae. The scoli become pale orange for second and third instars. The fourth and fifth instars are almond coloured while only the sixth and final (seventh) instar larvae show the blue-green colouration evidenced below.

Larvae have a very dense cover of urticating spines and are gregarious in their habits. There are at least six instars, with seven observed at high altitude in Brazil. Larvae attain lengths of 55mm and can take up to fifty-five days for development.

Automerina auletes male, Pasco Dept., Peru, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe copyright.

Automeris auletes female, Pasco Dept., Peru, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe. copyright.

Regarding the images immediately above sent to me by Kirby Wolfe, I notice a colour difference between them and the moths more typically designated as Automerina auletes. I also note that Kirby's specimens lack the orangely-yellow, irregular, sinuate line running from costa to inner margin between the cell and post median line. Perhaps these moths are one of the two recently (2011) described species by Brechlin and Meister. They might even be something undescribed, or simply a variation of A. auletes or A. yungasletes.

Automerina auletes female, Panama, courtesy of Dr. Arthur Anker, STRI.

Automerina auletes female, Panama, courtesy of Dr. Arthur Anker, STRI.

Automeris auletes sixth instar, courtesy of Kirby Wolfe. copyright.

Kirby has successfully reared this species on Malosma (=Rhus) laurina.

Sixth instar larva courtesy of Rodolphe Rougerie.

Larvae probably pupate in a very flimsy cocoon spun amongst leaf litter. Host plant appears to be one of the sumac species.

Eurides Furtado has documented Protium heptaphyllum as an acceptable host in Mato Grosso and writes, "The natural host plant is an unidentified Myrtaceae, genus Eugena or Myrcia."

Visit Automerula auletes images of female, courtesy of Horst Kach.

Larval Food Plants

Listed below are primary food plant(s) from personal communication (Eurides Furtado and Kirby Wolfe). It is hoped that this alphabetical listing followed by the common name of the foodplant will prove useful. The list is not exhaustive. Experimenting with closely related foodplants is worthwhile.

Eugena Malosma (=Rhus) laurina ........ Myrcia Protium heptaphyllum

Eugena Laurel Sumac Myrcia Incense Tree

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