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Updated as per Lemaire's Hemileucinae 2002, February 5, 2007 Updated as per personal communication with Paul Smith (Paraguay: Itapua), February 2008 |
TAXONOMY:Superfamily: Bombycoidea, Latreille, 1802 |
"Someone to Watch Over Me" |
Visit Automeris amoena amoena female (recto and verso), Itanhandu, Minas Gerais, Brazil, September 22, 2009, courtesy of Larry Valentine, from larva found and reared and pictured, November 14, 2008, and April 10, 2009.
Lemaire groups illustris, amoena, amoena rotunda and coresus as having abdomens that are usually orange, matching the basal area of the hindwings. The forewing postmedial line is preapical.
A. amoena generally has a larger, more rounded pupil with a lighter iris; A. amoena rotunda has a concave outer margin and a markedly concave postmedial line; A. coresus has a basic ground colour of ash-gray.
Note the thin yellow line around the hw eyespot.
Here is a very beautiful aberration from Eurides Furtado.
Automeris amoena amoena female, wingspan: 90 mm,
Reserva Vale da Solidão 14o22’S 56o07’W, 450 m,
Mato Grosso, Brazil. December, courtesy of Eurides Furtado
In Europe, Bernhard Wenczel reports Fagus silvatica and Quercus are used with good success.
Automeris amoena male, Ecuador??,
courtesy of Eric van Schayck, tentative id by Bill Oehlke.
Eggs are deposited in clusters of 6-40 on hostplant stems and branches.
Like all Automeris larvae, caterpillars are gregarious and
have urticating spines. |
Lateral view of fifth instar larva, courtesy of Chris Conlan, reveals longitudinal white subspiracular line and red spiracle circles. |
Even while moving, the larvae is well protected
with branching spines that leave few areas of the dorsal surface
uncovered. |
In this "cut-away" view by Bernhard Jost, the wider outline of the male antennae is clearly visible on the pupal shell.Females tend to be considerably larger than males. The discarded skin of the final moult remains in the cocoon. |
Crataegus | Hawthorn |
The pronunciation of scientific names is
troublesome for many. The "suggestion" at the top of the page is
merely a suggestion. It is based on commonly
accepted English pronunciation of Greek names and/or some
fairly well accepted "rules" for latinized scientific names.
The suggested pronunciations, on this page and on other pages,
are primarily put forward to assist those who hear with internal
ears as they read.
There are many collectors from different countries whose
intonations and accents would be different.