DISTRIBUTON:

Automeris rubrescens flies from Mexico to Costa Rica and possibly further south. Guatemala is the specimen type locality for rubrescens which is synonymous with tridens. Jacqueline Y. Miller reports it in Honduras.

FLIGHT TIMES AND PREFERRED FOOD PLANTS:

Larvae feed on Ligustrum and Quercus

Males (above) have both a yellow and dark form.

ECLOSION, SCENTING AND MATING:

Males use their more highly developed antennae to seek out females who release an airbourne pheromone into the night sky.

Automeris rubrescens (male), Mexico, courtesy of Eric van Schayck.

http://www.saturniidae-mundi.de/Oschayck/schayck.htm

EGGS, LARVAE, COCOONS, AND PUPAE:

Eggs are deposited in clusters of 6-40+ on hostplant twigs. Larvae have urticating spines and are gregarious, especially in the early instars.

Larvae bulk up considerably for final instar and remain gregarious, often following each other, head to tail, in a long procession on host branches.

Listed below are primary food plant(s) and alternate food plants listed in Stephen E. Stone's Foodplants of World Saturniidae. 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.

Ligustrum....... Quercus

Privet Oak

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