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Photo#39905

"Two-Tailed" - Adoneta bicaudata
Albemarle County, Virginia, USA
September 28, 1985
I hope someone will give me a second opinion. I believe may be Adoneta bicaudata, which Wagner says "occurs locally in the East." His inset photo shows two simple reddish spots where mine has more like two double pairs, but he also says a key character is that the posterior pair of horns is "narrower, curved inwardly, and 2-3 times longer than those of A. spinuloides.

The posterior pair of horns in my photo are certainly more narrow than spinuloides' "gumdrop-shaped pair" and is indeed much longer than the horns of spinuloides. I can't see that the horns in my photo curve inwardly, but that character is barely visible in Wagner's photo, either.

Of course it is possible there is an instar difference, or just individual variation, at work here. I see Neartica.com lists four Adoneta species, while Wagner's eastern guide gives only two.

Any thoughts?

The two species you mention a
The two species you mention are virually identical. In trying to seperate them, the larval description of bicaudata is as follows. The mid-dorsal purple stripe expands to form diamond shapes on 3 to 5 different segments, which yours does. The purple stripe is narrow or missing in the middle of the abdomen, showing yellow. Again your picture matches. And the two elongated scoli appear 3-4 times longer than wide.
They don't appear that expanded on spinuloides. I'd stick to your determination until we are overruled.

Certainly looks different from Troy's
which he has posted as spinuloides. We look forward to the experts' opinions on these!

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