Im leaning more towards Anisota peigleri- the sounthern variation of A. senatoria as some classify this moth (on BugGuide A. peigleri is considered a subspecies of A. senatoria) as oppose to my other choice of A. stigma. they are very similar but I would still stick with A. peigleri (or A. senatoria as BugGuide classifies it). Not 100% sure on this one, the only thing leading me to A. peigleri other than range is the absence of the pinkish-brown area near the head as seen in A. stigma.

I'm pretty sure this is A. stigma. I live just minutes from Austell, and Cobb County is one of my collecting areas. Thus far I have found no peigleri as of yet, but lots of stigma. In my database for 04 to 07, each of those years peigleri adults and larva weren't present until mid to late July. I admit the humble findings of one lone researcher is a small sampling, so it doesn't necessarily mean there are no peigleri at this time. But personally, from my experience, I'm inclined to err on the side of stigma.

With that information, I'd now go along with A. stigma. As I wasn't sure of either of the species and I have no experience in the area and I was merely comparing photos. Thanks again for clearing up another Anisota ID. Next I'll be trying to ID something the comes across as "A. manitobensis" =/

Just the luck of the draw with it being down the road from me. :) If it had been a NC specimen or something, I doubt I could have judged confidently either way. I've been tracking the numbers of the Anisota populations around here for awhile, along with Symmerista and a few others, so this one was just a little easier for me to call since it happenned to be in my area.

I found this bug above my front door earlier this afternoon. I live in NC.

we have some images here from North Carolina - see data map