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Photo#483434
Colorful Cat - Euproserpinus phaeton

Colorful Cat - Euproserpinus phaeton
Kelso Canyon, Kern County, California, USA
April 27, 2003
Lateral view of left side of larva, showing the first four abdominal spiracles.

I think this image clearly shows an unambiguous diagnostic character distinguishing this as a late instar of Euproserpinus phaeton, rather than E. euterpe.

Specifically, note the two light (dull-orange centered) spiracles contiguous with the (largish) black spots extending above them. Notice that the same character holds for the two late-instar larval images of E. phaeton at the bottom of this web page. Compare the preceding with all the late-instar larval images of E. euterpe at the bottom of this web page, which have dark (blackish-centered) spiracles "remote" from the (smaller) black spots above them ("remote" meaning "well-separated from").

This distinguishing character for these taxa is articulated in the relatively recent (2006) paper by Peter Jump, Travis Longcore, and Catherine Rich titled:

"Ecology and Distribution of a Newly Discovered Population of the Federally Threatened Euproserpinus euterpe (Sphingidae)"
... available as a PDF here (934 KB). The pertinent quote (from 2nd paragraph on pg. 43) appears below:

"A second diagnostic character is found in the illustrations of larval forms by C. M. Dammers archived at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. In these illustrations, Dammers depicts the last instar larvae of E. phaeton with large lateral black spots contiguous with the lighter spiracles on the abdomen from the fourth to tenth segment. While these spots are present in E. euterpe, they are greatly reduced in size and are remote from and not much larger than the black spiracle."
A slightly confusing nuance (for me) occurs above in reference to the numbering of segments. When the quote refers to abdominal spiracles on the "fourth to tenth segment" I believe they're counting segments beginning with the first thoracic segment. Then "4th segment and beyond" would correspond to "1st abdominal segment and beyond", which would be consistent with what I think I'm seeing in all the images referred to above :-)

Images of this individual: tag all
Colorful Cat - Euproserpinus phaeton Colorful Cat - Euproserpinus phaeton Colorful Cat - Euproserpinus phaeton Colorful Cat - Euproserpinus phaeton Colorful Cat - Euproserpinus phaeton

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