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Io moth | |
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Female (top) and male (below) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Saturniidae |
Genus: | Automeris |
Species: | A. io |
Binomial name | |
Automeris io | |
Subspecies [3] | |
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Synonyms [4] | |
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Automeris io, the Io moth (EYE-oh) or peacock moth, is a colorful North American moth in the family Saturniidae. [5] [6] The Io moth is also a member of the subfamily Hemileucinae. [7] The name Io comes from Greek mythology in which Io was a mortal lover of Zeus. [8] The Io moth ranges from the southeast corner of Manitoba and in the southern extremes of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada, and in the US it is found from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, east of those states and down to the southern end of Florida. [9] The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775.
Imagines (sexually mature, reproductive stage) have a wingspan of 2.5–3.5 inches (63–88 mm). [7] [9] This species is sexually dimorphic: males have bright yellow forewings, body, and legs, while females have reddish-brown to purple forewings, body, and legs. [4] [10] The males also have much bigger plumose (feathery) antennae than the females. [4] Both males and females have one big black to bluish eyespot with some white in the center, on each hindwing. [10] [11] [12] Some hybridizations have resulted in variations in these hindwing eyespots. [11] [12] Adults live 1–2 weeks.
Many species of flies (Tachinidae) and wasps (Ichneumonidae and Braconidae) are known parasitoids. [4] The flies include the introduced Compsilura concinnata , Lespesia sabroskyi , Chetogena claripennis , Carcelia formosa , Sisyropa eudryae , Lespesia frenchii , and Nilea dimmocki . [13] The wasps include the Ichneumonidae species Hyposoter fugitivus and Enicospilus americanus , [4] and the Braconidae species Cotesia electrae and Cotesia hemileucae . [4]
Io moths have many predators. These include birds, small mammals, and spiders. [4] [10]
Stinging spines of caterpillar Io moths have a very painful venom that is released with the slightest touch. There are two hypotheses regarding where this venom originates: (1) the glandular cells on the base of the branched seta or (2) from the secretory epithelial cells. [14] Contacting the seta is not life-threatening for humans, but still causes irritation to the dermal tissue, resulting in an acute dermatitis called erucism. [15] [16] Both male and female adult io moths utilize their hindwing eyespots in predatory defense when the moth is sitting in the head-down position or is touched, via shaking and exposing these eyespots. [11] [12] [10]
Females lay small, white ova in the leaves of host plants, including:
The eggs have large micropyle rosettes that turn black as the fertile eggs develop. They are usually laid in clusters of more than twenty and hatch within 8–11 days. [4] [10] From the eggs, orange larvae emerge, usually eating their egg shell soon after hatching. [4] They go through five instars, each one being a little different.
The caterpillars are herbivorous and gregarious in all their instars, and may be seen traveling in single-file processions over the food plant. [10] [19] [7] As the larvae develop, they will lose their orange color and will turn bright green and urticating, having many spines. The green caterpillars have two lateral stripes, the upper one being bright red and the lower one being white. These caterpillars can reach sizes of 7 cm in length. [20] When the caterpillars are ready, they spin a flimsy, valveless cocoon made from a dark, coarse silk. Some larvae will crawl to the base of the tree and make their cocoons among leaf litter on the ground, while others will use living leaves to wrap their cocoons with. [4] [7] The leaves will turn brown and fall to the ground during fall, taking the cocoons with them. [4] [7] There they pupate, the pupa being dark brown/black. [4] The pupae also have sexual dimorphism with the females' possessing a notch on their posterior ventral aspect, while the males' pupae bear a pair of tubercles near that area with no notch. [4]
Adult Io moths normally emerge from their cocoons in late morning or early afternoon. The emergence of the adults moths is typically from June to July. [21] Eclosion (emergence from the cocoon) only takes a few minutes. [19] After eclosing, the moths climb and hang on plants so that their furled wings can be inflated with fluid (hemolymph) pumped from the body. This inflation process takes about twenty minutes. Adult moths are strictly nocturnal, generally flying during the peak hours of the night. [21] The females generally wait until nightfall and then extend a scent gland from the posterior region of the abdomen, in order to attract males via wind-borne pheromones. [4] The males use their larger antennae to detect the pheromones. After mating, the females die following egg laying. These moths have vestigial mouthparts and do not eat in the adult stage. [8] [10]
The Io moth has not been evaluated for listing on the IUCN Red List and has no special status on the U.S. Federal List. [19] In the eastern range of the US, the populations indicate a declining and more localized trend. [22] [19]
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages thereof being egg, larva, pupa, and imago. The processes of entering and completing the pupal stage are controlled by the insect's hormones, especially juvenile hormone, prothoracicotropic hormone, and ecdysone. The act of becoming a pupa is called pupation, and the act of emerging from the pupal case is called eclosion or emergence.
The luna moth, also called the American moon moth, is a Nearctic moth in the family Saturniidae, subfamily Saturniinae, a group commonly named the giant silk moths.
Urticating hairs or urticating bristles are one of the primary defense mechanisms used by numerous plants, almost all New World tarantulas, and various lepidopteran caterpillars. Urtica is Latin for "nettle", and bristles that urticate are characteristic of this type of plant, and many other plants in several families. This term also refers to certain types of barbed bristles that cover the dorsal and posterior surface of a tarantula's or caterpillar's abdomen. Many tarantula species eject bristles from their abdomens, directing them toward potential attackers. These bristles can embed themselves in the other animal's skin or eyes, causing physical irritation, usually to great discomfort. The term "hairs" is technically a misnomer, as technically only mammals possess true hairs. The technical word for plant hairs is trichomes.
Saturniidae, members of which are commonly named the saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and giant silk moths.
Saturnia pavonia, the small emperor moth, is a moth of the family Saturniidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Sometimes, the incorrect genus name Pavonia is still used for this species. This moth occurs throughout the Palearctic region and is the only member of its family to be found in the British Isles, where it is usually called simply the emperor moth.
Manduca quinquemaculata, the five-spotted hawkmoth, is a brown and gray hawk moth of the family Sphingidae. The caterpillar, often referred to as the tomato hornworm, can be a major pest in gardens; they get their name from a dark projection on their posterior end and their use of tomatoes as host plants. Tomato hornworms are closely related to the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta. This confusion arises because caterpillars of both species have similar morphologies and feed on the foliage of various plants from the family Solanaceae, so either species can be found on tobacco or tomato leaves. Because of this, the plant on which the caterpillar is found does not indicate its species.
Antheraea polyphemus, the Polyphemus moth, is a North American member of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths. It is a tan-colored moth, with an average wingspan of 15 cm (6 in). The most notable feature of the moth is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hindwings. The eyespots give it its name – from the Greek myth of the cyclops Polyphemus. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1776. The species is widespread in continental North America, with local populations found throughout subarctic Canada and the United States. The caterpillar can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months. Polyphemus moths are considered to be very polyphagous, meaning they eat from a wide variety of plants.
Hyalophora cecropia, the cecropia moth, is North America's largest native moth. It is a member of the family Saturniidae, or giant silk moths. Females have been documented with a wingspan of five to seven inches or more. These moths can be found all across North America as far west as Washington and north into the majority of Canadian provinces. Cecropia moth larvae are most commonly found on maple trees, but they have also been found on cherry and birch trees among many others. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Dryocampa rubicunda, the rosy maple moth, is a small North American moth in the family Saturniidae, also known as the great silk moths. It was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793. The species is known for its wooly body and pink and yellow coloration, which varies from cream or white to bright pink or yellow. Males have bushier antennae than females, which allow them to sense female pheromones for mating.
Citheronia regalis, the regal moth or royal walnut moth, is a North American moth in the family Saturniidae. The caterpillars are called hickory horned devils. The adult (imago) has a wingspan of 3.75–6.1 in (9.5–15.5 cm). The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793.
The saddleback caterpillar is the larva of a species of moth native to eastern North America. It is also found in Mexico. The species belongs to the family of slug caterpillars, Limacodidae.
Actias isis is a moth of the family Saturniidae first described by Léon Sonthonnax in 1899.
Callosamia promethea, commonly known as the promethea silkmoth, is a member of the family Saturniidae, which contains approximately 1,300 species. It is also known as the spicebush silkmoth, which refers to is one of the promethea silkmoth's common host plants, spicebush. C. promethea is classified as a silk moth, which stems from its ability to produce silk, which it does in the formation of its cocoon. C. promethea lives in forests in the eastern U.S. and does not damage the trees on which it lives. The species was first described by Dru Drury in 1773.
Anthela nicothoe, the urticating anthelid, is a moth of the family Anthelidae.
Eupackardia is a monotypic moth genus in the family Saturniidae erected by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell in 1912. Its only species, Eupackardia calleta, the calleta silkmoth, was described by John O. Westwood in 1853. It is found in Mexico, Guatemala, as well as in the states such as; Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
The external morphology of Lepidoptera is the physiological structure of the bodies of insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera, also known as butterflies and moths. Lepidoptera are distinguished from other orders by the presence of scales on the external parts of the body and appendages, especially the wings. Butterflies and moths vary in size from microlepidoptera only a few millimetres long, to a wingspan of many inches such as the Atlas moth. Comprising over 160,000 described species, the Lepidoptera possess variations of the basic body structure which has evolved to gain advantages in adaptation and distribution.
Ochrogaster lunifer, the bag-shelter moth or processionary caterpillar, is a member of the family Notodontidae. The species was first described by Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer in 1855. Both the larval and adult forms have hairs that cause irritation of the skin (urticaria). The adult moth has a woolly appearance and its wings can grow to be about 5.5 cm across. The larvae feed on Grevillea striata at night and reside in brown silken bag nest during the day.
Hylesia nigricans is a species of Lepidoptera of the family Saturniidae. It is a nocturnal moth endemic to Argentina and Brazil. It can be found mainly in the north and center of Argentina, the south of Bolivia and the south of Brazil, due to climatic factors which favor its reproduction. The species was first described by Carlos Berg in 1875.
Cotesia glomerata, the white butterfly parasite, is a small parasitoid wasp belonging to family Braconidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 publication 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Hemileuca lucina, the New England buck moth, is a species of moth in the family Saturniidae. This moth species is only found in the New England region of the United States. Larvae in early stages mainly feed on broadleaf meadowsweet whereas larvae in later stages show variation in food sources such as blackberry and black cherry leaves. Larvae have a black body with orange/black spines on their back that are used to deter predators. Pupation occurs during the summer and adult moths come out around September.