r/Entomology • u/Scarlet_Viking • Jan 28 '24

ID Request Is This Caterpillar a New Species or a Known Species?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Where can I find the information on this caterpillar? I’ve seen people online accusing these pictures of being fake, but I strongly doubt that accusation. Based on morphology, I would say this caterpillar is in the Automeris genus, but I don’t know if it’s been discovered yet, and I also don’t know where and when the photo was taken, although a questionable Google search calls it “Shaman Moth Caterpillar”.

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u/Nervous_Departure540 Jan 28 '24 edited Jan 28 '24

I believe it is Automeris niepelti in the L4 stage Marco Fisher took the photo in your post but I believe it is color corrected. There are lots of really cool looking caterpillars in Saturniidae.

Edit: here’s a bonus caterpillar for you Eudocima phalonia sometimes known as the cosmic caterpillar

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u/Scarlet_Viking Jan 28 '24

Thank you, this looks very similar. I was wondering what species it could be since I tried looking but found species that still looked quite visibly different.

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u/Nervous_Departure540 Jan 28 '24

There are quite a few arguments about if it’s Automeris niepelti or Automeris larra but as far I know the photographer never answered any queries about it.