Gas station wall under light in early morning in Maggie Valley, NC
13 July 2011
Gas station wall under light in early morning in Maggie Valley, NC
13 July 2011
Gas station wall under light in early morning in Maggie Valley, NC
13 July 2011
by Jeffrey S. Pippen | Back to Jeff's Moths Page | Jeff's Nature Pages
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Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar Gas station wall under light in early morning in Maggie Valley, NC 13 July 2011 |
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Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar Gas station wall under light in early morning in Maggie Valley, NC 13 July 2011 |
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Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar Gas station wall under light in early morning in Maggie Valley, NC 13 July 2011 |
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Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar Mixed pine - hardwood forest in Orange Co., NC 21 Sep 2009 Probably widespread but uncommon in NC. Io caterpillars eat a wide variety of plant species' leaves. |
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Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar Mixed pine - hardwood forest in Orange Co., NC 21 Sep 2009 Final instars have many clusters of light green spines including several urticating (stinging) hairs, which can deliver a very painful sting. |
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Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar Mixed pine - hardwood forest in Orange Co., NC 21 Sep 2009 A lateral red line over a cream line are distinctive on this species. |
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Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar Mixed pine - hardwood forest in Orange Co., NC 21 Sep 2009 The stinging hairs are found eminating from the darkened areas of certain spines. Those hairs are like tiny hypodermic needles injecting venom into the skin of whomever is unfortunate enough to grab or brush up against this beautiful caterpillar. |
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Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar Mixed pine - hardwood forest in Orange Co., NC 21 Sep 2009 |
Annotated habitat and distribution information listed above is from Radford, Ahles, & Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. UNC Press; Alan Weakley's Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia; and from personal observations and discussions with Will Cook, Harry LeGrand, and Bob Wilbur. Supplemental resources include USDA plants website, and NatureServe.
Created on ... June 21, 2009 | jeffpippen9@gmail.com