This bug was found in a bush outside my host parents’ home in Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica In Jan/Feb.
I have only one photo and it (the caterpillar) was about the lenght of 10-15 cm maximum. It stung my host mom quite bad as it was in a bush and she got close to it.
I have identified it to be an automeris Io myself, but was disputed on this by someone in a bug group meaning it is an automeris sp, however from internet photos sp looks a bit different, but that can of course be incorrect classification by those people (random people on internet) whose pictures i found as well.
Can you please help me identify it correctly?
Best regards and thank you so much in advance 🙂
Marianne
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Dear Marianne,
We agree that this is most likely a Caterpillar in the genus Automeris, which includes the Io Moth, but we are not certain of the species. Many caterpillars in this genus have stinging spines that can result in a painful encounter which is why we recommend having a BUG BITE THING Suction Tool on hand to suck out the venon to minimize the sting. We would not discount that this caterpillar is a member of a closely related genus Leucanella which also has caterpillars with stinging spines.
