Spiny caterpillar - Anisota consularis

Moved

Moved from Anisota.

… Tim Lethbridge, 1 February, 2010 - 10:17pm

Moved

… John R. Maxwell, 29 January, 2010 - 4:43pm

Nice find...

I believe this is Anisota consularis, a rarely photographed Anisota sp.. This species is highly variable as larvae and this is probably the "tan" form noted in The Wild Silk Moths of NA. Very nice find indeed if this turns out to be A. consularis.

There isn't even a BugGuide page for this species yet. My ID is tentative, and I'll try to confirm it.

… Ryan St Laurent, 28 January, 2010 - 1:31pm

Anisota larva

Ryan is correct that this is larva of one of the five Florida Anisota species. Its paternning and color indicate it is either Anisota stigma or Anisota consularis.
Generally accepted southern range limit in Florida for stigma is just north of Highlands County. Consularis larvae are highly variable, and the strong presence of black lateral line and hint of subdorsal one are more in keeping with consularis than stigma.
Stigma should not be ruled out, but it is more likely Anisota consularis.
I request permission to post on my webpages, credited to you, as Anisota consularis??

Bill Oehlke

… Bill Oehlke, 1 February, 2010 - 9:37pm

You know

insects are funny things. You spend an hour stalking a wasp you have never seen before, post it to bug guide, and find there are nine pages of photographs already. Then you photograph a random caterpillar on a five minute break because you can't find anything else to photograph and it ends up being something bug guide is missing.

Thanks everybody for the educational comments. Bill, you certainly have my permission and if you would send me a link to your site, I can add it to my folder of insect references. I guess I need to pay more attention to caterpillars in the future and not just hope a wasp wanders by to carry them off as larval food!

… Tim Lethbridge, 1 February, 2010 - 10:16pm

Page made

I made a species page(1) in case the ID is correct. If not: Ryan, are you confident in genus Anisota?

… John F. Carr, 28 January, 2010 - 8:35pm

Certainly

I'm positive that this is Anisota, I'm still waiting for the confirmation on whether or not this is A. consularis.

… Ryan St Laurent, 29 January, 2010 - 1:49pm

Thank you

Thank you (to everyone who responded). I will leave the shot here then, at least until you have time to look further. Thanks for taking the time on this photo!

… Tim Lethbridge, 28 January, 2010 - 4:40pm

Awesome.

I was hoping that was what it'd be, and since you've commented on a lot of other Anisota that you'd see this one :) I tried finding pictures of larvae but couldn't, and I saw that Florida would be the right area for it.

… Natalie Hernandez, 28 January, 2010 - 2:15pm

Given the host plant

and general appearance, I'd suggest one of the Oakworm Moths in the genus Anisota. However, I cannot find an exact match in the Guide. Perhaps someone else will have more luck (or a different suggestion altogether). :)

… Ken Wolgemuth, 28 January, 2010 - 7:57am

They're an interesting genus!

There are a few species missing from the guide, so it could be that we don't have this one photographed yet, or this may be a color morph that hasn't been photographed. Some of them can change drastically from instar to instar. We'll leave it here for a little longer, see what others have to say, and if no one can ID it for sure we'll have to move it to family or superfamily.

… Natalie Hernandez, 28 January, 2010 - 12:30pm