Automeris io

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Io moth
Female (top) and male (below)
Conservation status
Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Saturniidae
Genus:	Automeris
Species:	A. io
Binomial name
Automeris io (Fabricius, 1775)[2]
Subspecies[3]
Automeris io io (Fabricius, 1775) Automeris io neomexicana Barnes & Benjamin, 1923
Synonyms[4]
Bombyx io Fabricius, 1775 Phalaena io (Fabricius, 1775) Hyperchiria io (Fabricius, 1775) Hyperchiria lilith Strecker, 1872

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.

Adult description

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.

Parasitoids

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]

Predators

Io moths have many predators. These include birds, small mammals, and spiders.^[4][10]

Defenses

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]

Life cycle

Females lay small, white

• Morus alba—mulberry
• Prunus pensylvanica—pin cherry
• Salix
  —willow
• Abies balsamea—balsam fir
• Acer rubrum—red maple
• Amorpha fruticosa—bastard indigo
• Baptisia tinctoria—wild indigo
• Carpinus caroliniana—American hornbeam
• Celtis laevigata—sugarberry or southern hackberry
• Cephalanthus occidentalis—button-bush
• Cercis canadensis—eastern redbud
• Chamaecrista fasciculata—showy partridge pea
• Comptonia peregrina—sweetfern
• Cornus florida—flowering dogwood
• Corylus avellana—common hazel
• Erythrina herbacea—coral bean^[17]
• Fagus—beech
• Fraxinus—ash
• Liquidambar styraciflua—American sweetgum
• Lythrum salicaria—introduced purple loosestrife^[18]
• Quercus—oak

  

  leaf
• Paeonia—peony
• Phoenix roebelenii^{[citation needed]}

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

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.

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]   

See also

• Aglais io, a butterfly species

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Automeris io.

• Site with a description and pictures
• Io moth on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site