Looking familiar? They should. It's one of the like a zillion members of the io group within the Automeris genus and very, very, very similar to for exemple Automeris melmon, which I posted on this blog somewhere last year. In fact, they were previously considered to be a subspecies of Automeris io, but guess who decided to elevate them to full species status. Yes, my favorite entomologists. Was this absolutely necessary? Don't ask me, I barely see the difference between all these species. So, maybe it was, who's still following? Draudtiana from Mexico, a pretty and not so large moth with a wingspan between five and seven and a half centimeter. There's also a yellow form, which looks more like io and less then melmon (or colenon) then the moths in these pictures. It looks like there is only one flight with the cocoons overwintering. In captivity, the moths can emerge fairly quickly after rising temperatures, sometimes already in February (depends on the combination of temperature and ambient humidity).
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| Automeris draudtiana male - Origin: Mexico |
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| Automeris draudtiana female - Origin: Mexico |
And then six days later: hey, look at that! My first yellow male. Both forms occur within the same brood.
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| Automeris draudtiana male - Origin: Mexico |
