AUTOMERELLA OF THE WORLD
Updated as per Lemaire's Hemileucinae 2002, November 3, 2005
Updated as per personal communication with Carlos Mielke (Parana), April 2008, July 2009
Updated as per personal communication with Larry valentine (flexuosa female, Itanhandu, Minas Gerais, Brazil, September 4, 2012); September 4, 2012
Updated as per personal communication with Luis Cesar Tejo (aurora male, Misiones, Argentina); November 26, 2013
This page has been updated August 24, 2015, based on reference material for Argentina, sent to me by Ezequiel Bustos, as cited in a recent publication: NÚÑEZ: Catálogo preliminar de Saturniidae de Argentina TROP. LEPID. RES., 25(1): 22-33, 2015 31.
Updated as per Entomo-Satsphingia Yarhgang 8, Heft 01, 24.04.2015; November 16, 2015
Updated as per The Saturniidae (Lepidoptera) deposited in the Entomological Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with geographic and taxonomic notes; Aline V. Miranda, Márcio A. e Silva, Carlos G. C. Mielke, Danielle Cerri, Márcio Felix and Jane Costa

AUTOMERELLA OF THE WORLD

Automerella flexuosa courtesy of Bernhard Wenczel.

AUTOMERELLA MICHENER, 1949

The genus Automerella belongs to the Subfamily Hemileucinae in the Saturniidae Family. These moths look like Automeris species. Eyespots are small and forewing postmedial line is lunulate, especially near the costa, and preapical.

Larvae have urticating spines.

Automerella flexuosa final instar, Tapirai, Sao Paulo, Brazil,
courtesy of Enio Branco.

P indicates an image is available. The first country listed is the specimen type locality.

All three of the Automerella species are endemic to southeastern Brazil, with flexuosa possibly ranging into northeastern Argentina.

Listing of Automerella

N winbrechlini Brechlin & Meister, 2015 Brazil: Bahia; ? Espirito Santo ?
P chrisbrechlinae Brechlin & Meister, 2015 Brazil: Santa Catarina; Possibly A. chrisbrechlinae replaces A. aurora in Parana and Santa Catarina, Brazil and in Misiones, Argentina
P rubicunda (Schaus, 1892), Brazil: Rio de Janeiro: Petropolis; previously placed in synonymity with aurora
can be easily distinguished from A. aurora by the darker grayish ground colour, more evident on the forewing, and by the distinct, never diffused dark olive preapical spot on the costal margin of the forewing. Also, it seems A. rubicunda occurs at higher altitudes, thus not being sympatric with A. aurora




P aurora (Maassen & Weyding, 1885) southeastern Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Mato Grosso; ??Parana (CM), ??Santa Catarina; ??Argentina: Misiones (LCT)
rubicunda (Schaus, 1892), Brazil, is a synonym for aurora; now recognized as a distinct species
P flexuosa (R. Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874) southeastern Brazil: Santa Catarina, Parana (CM), Minas Gerais (LV), Rio Grande do Sul; ? northeastern Argentina
bouvieri (Conte, 1906), Brazil, is a synonym for flexuosa
mendosa (Boisduval, 1875), is a synonym for flexuosa
P miersi Lemaire & C. Mielke, 1998 southeastern Brazil: Santa Catarina

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fully updated as of July 26, 2004; November 26, 2015

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