Festive colors, but with a nasty bite. While pruning the banana trees, I bumped into one of these beauties and got a nice sting through my shirt. Well, hello! Looks like garlands.
They feast on the leaves and soon will turn into the most beautiful blue butterflies.... I think.
I feel lucky to have them here even if the sting was a bit painful. Look, but do not touch.
Very festive! But I was sure right away that is wasn't likely a butterfly as generally their caterpillars are hairless.
ReplyDeleteWhat you have is some variety of Io moth (or two) Here's a page showing the Io caterpillars,- they start out small and red and become large and green. And yes they DO sting and you were lucky it was through your clothes.
https://tinyurl.com/y3wlensv
Adult moth wingspans are an impressive 2-3.3 inches, and have a large IO mark on their under-wings. The thing is, most articles have their distribution involving the eastern half of the US and part of eastern Mexico. Oaxaca??? Did you import him on your last trip up north? Just kidding. Distribution info seems to be based on a 1996 study - guess they're on the move.
Diane
I have had them before. Two years ago there were quite a few. This year only three that I've seen. They are voracious eaters... an entire banana leaf in one day!
ReplyDeleteOnce again, a keen eye uncovers a remarkable synthesis of holiday and color and shape in the natural world. Oh, to be so alive as to discover.
ReplyDeleteI just read a sentence from Rebecca West in Survivors in Mexico that I absolutely must share: “What are the characteristics of Mexico? The sound of brooms sweeping courtyards and pavements in the early morning; cotton-wooly tortillas stuffed with the clotted heaven of avocado-pear puree; gesticulating cactus; flowers so bright that they seem to be audible; people who walk silently; and this historic oddity of insurrections by a subject people on the side of stability and tradition.”